


With a Vengeance

by PattRose



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: 000, AU, Angst, Death of minor characters, Drama, First Time, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, wordcount: 35
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-28
Updated: 2011-01-28
Packaged: 2017-10-15 03:54:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/156789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PattRose/pseuds/PattRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Sandburg is called in to investigate the murders of businessman, Jim Ellison’s family.  AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	With a Vengeance

Acknowledgments: Thank you so much to Kelly and Mary for the betas. I like the story much better now. Thank you to Candygram for the artwork.  
Email: PattRose1@aol.com  
Summary: Detective Sandburg is called in to investigate the murders of Jim Ellison’s family. AU

With a Vengeance  
By Patt

 

Ellison Enterprises was busier then it had ever been. William thought with the economy going down, the business might follow suit, but it was quite the opposite. William had both of his sons working for him in the Security Company. It was a security firm that installed security systems and provided security guards when needed. Jim also ran an investigating service out of the same office. William, Jim, and Steven had become very close in the last five years since they started working together.

Steven was married to a wonderful woman named Bailey and they had two beautiful children; a five year old son, named Kevin and a darling three year old daughter named Lily. Kevin wanted to be a football player when he grew up and Lily wanted to be a doctor. They were both very bright and William knew that no matter what they wanted to do, he would see to it that they would have college paid for. William was so damned proud of Steven for giving him such delightful grandchildren. William was happier then he’d ever been.

William was engaged to a lovely woman named Rose Carson who accepted everything and anything about William and his family. She adored the grandkids and she was wild about Jim, Steven, and Bailey. Rose never complained about William's insane hours. She just waited him out and took good care of him when he returned home each night. William planned on telling the boys that they were going to get married in the next month. He was wild about her and she seemed to be very happy with her life with William.

His oldest son Jim was quite the opposite of Steven. He had been married, but divorced rather quickly when Jim found out she really liked money more then she liked him. She had wanted a child, but Jim thankfully had said no and now William was grateful for that. Carolyn would have just tried to stiff him for more money, if there was a child involved. As it was, Carolyn sued for half of what Jim had, but thankfully the courts laughed the suit out of court. William hoped that some day Jim would find someone and settle down, but he noticed that Jim seemed to be fond of men these days. Oh Jim, thought he was keeping everything a secret, but William was much more observant then people gave him credit for. William noticed that Jim never seemed to date the same man. It was always someone different, which bothered William just a little bit. He hoped that Jim would get his act together and find someone that he was totally crazy about and fall in love. William didn’t care if there were any children from the union, he already had grandchildren. He just wanted Jim to be happy for a change.

William sat down to write a quick note to Jim, to begin the onslaught of what was to come. He explained how he approved of Jim, no matter what his lifestyle was and hoped to talk to him about it soon. William put the note in an envelope, wrote ‘Jim, read this’ and handed it to Jim as he was leaving to sign on a new client. This was an actual client and Jim had volunteered to go take care of it, so Steven could go home a little early to see his children. No one was crazier about the children than Jim. They meant the world to him. He volunteered for many things so that Steven would have family time.

William was catching up on paperwork when Steven walked into the office.

“Dad, did you think that Jim looked all right today? I noticed he seemed a little pale. And he keeps wearing sunglasses when he’s inside the building. Don’t you find it rather odd?” Steven asked.

“No, it isn’t odd at all. I told you that Jim has heightened senses and the light from the sun bothers his eyes. Even the lights from the actual lights in here bother his eyes. He’s been looking for a doctor that can help him, but so far, no help at all. He’s all right, just needs to find someone that doesn’t think he’s crazy. Don’t worry about him. Worry about getting your paperwork done so you can get home to your family. How is Bailey today?” William inquired.

“Bailey is wonderful as always. She called me today for no reason other then to say she loved me. I couldn’t have found a better wife. Sometimes I feel like I got too much of a good life, while Jim got very little. He’s sickly and he’s alone. That’s why I worry about him, dad,” Steven explained.

“Jim chose to divorce Carolyn. She wasn’t a good match for him. He’ll find someone one of these days and they’ll be happy. I promise you. Now get done, so you can leave and see those precious babies of yours,” William ordered.

“Okay dad. I’ll get caught up and out of your hair in no time,” Steven teased.

~~~~~

Jim was driving across town and remembered he had the envelope with the note on it from his dad. He pulled over to the side of the road and read it. Jim was constantly surprised at how accepting his father was of everything he did. He accepted Jim with the senses problems and tried to help in every way he could and now he was giving his blessing about being gay. Jim smiled as he pulled back into traffic and started for the house that needed the security system.

When he arrived, he went over everything with the couple and told them how much work it would be to get the system put in and how expensive it would be. Jim liked to get the money talk over with as soon as he could, so he didn’t waste anyone’s time.

They agreed to everything and Jim pulled out a contract and went through it with them. He smiled at the thought of maybe getting back to the office in time to shove both men out of the building. They all worked way too much. Once the contract was understood and signed, Jim put everything back in his briefcase and left for the evening.

~~~~~

“So how come we’re breaking into a Security Company? Doesn’t that seem dumb?” Emmanuel Lopez asked.

“We got paid for this, now don’t fuck it up. Remember how much we’re getting for this. It’s going to be worth it. You’ll see,” Travis Miller promised.

August Dane said, “I sure hope so, because this could backfire and I don’t want to do any more time in prison. Do either of you?”

“Don’t worry so much, Gus. It’ll work out just fine,” Travis promised once again.

“Do you agree with him, Manny?” Gus asked.

“Yes, I do. Now let’s get this show on the road,” Manny said.

~~~~~

William looked at his watch and saw that it was already 6:30 and he was hungry. He was going to call Jim and ask him to stop somewhere and get them some dinner.

First William buzzed Steven’s office and heard, “What’s up, dad?”

William pushed the button and said, “Come on into my office and we’ll call Jim and ask him to pick up some dinner.”

“Okay, I’ll be right in as soon as I lock up the place,” Steven answered.

“Don’t worry about it, Jim is coming right back. With dinner, hopefully,” William said.

“Be right in,” Steven walked into William’s office and said teasingly, “So did you call him yet?”

William put the phone on speaker phone and dialed the number for Jim’s cell phone. After three rings, Jim answered, “Ellison.”

“Funny, that’s our names too,” William kidded.

“Hi dad. Thank you for the note, it meant a great deal to me. Why am I on speaker phone?” Jim asked.

“Steven is in here too and we want you to run by the Chinese food place and get us some dinner. We’re starving,” William replied.

“Hi Steven. Why aren’t you home yet? I told you to leave and go see Bailey. Why don’t you ever listen to your older brother?”

“I’m hungry and then I’ll go home, okay? Dad, did you just hear someone outside the office?” Steven asked with alarm in his voice.

Jim said, “Keep the phone on speaker phone. I’m on my way back to the office as we speak.”

Steven opened the door and three men with masks and guns were standing there. They pushed Steven back into the room and one of them said, “Which one of you is Ellison?”

“We’re both Ellisons,” Steven said as he moved over to where William stood.

“I’ve got money in my safe,” William offered.

“Hey Manny, did you hear that? The old man wants to buy us off. How about it?” The second one asked.

“Shut your mouth, Gus. You shut up, old man. We’re looking for the young Ellison, so you must be the one.” The leader of the three decided.

“But I can pay you whatever you want to leave us alone,” William tried again.

“We already got plenty, old man, don’t you worry about it,” The leader said as he moved closer to William and shot William in the side of the head . William went down quickly and easily.

Gus went after Steven and shot him numerous times.

“What the fuck are you doing? I was going to get him to open up the safe,” the leader said.

Gus said, “We thought you didn’t want it.”

“I was just playing hard to get. You didn’t have to kill them so quickly. There’s no one else in the building, remember? This building is all theirs. Now make sure you don’t touch anything and let’s get out of here before someone comes in,” the leader said once again.

Gus said, “Come on Manny. Leave that shit on his desk. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Then there was nothing but quiet.

~~~~~

Jim was driving like a bat out of hell and was almost to the building, if he could just get there before they left, he could see who did this. Jim hung up the phone and dialed 911. They asked what he was calling about and he gave them the Ellison Enterprises address and said that shots had been fired. Jim tried to explain about being on speaker phone with his dad and brother before the shots were heard and she tried to calm him down. He finally hung up the cell because she was slowing him down. He needed to get there and fast.

Jim’s heart was beating so hard that it was the only thing he could hear in the truck. He came to a screeching halt in front of the building and saw an old car pulling away at the same time. Jim took note of the license plate number and the type of car it was and rushed into the building. Jim wasn’t a man believing in much prayer, but he was praying now. All Jim wanted was his family to be all right.

He pushed the button at the elevator with his gloves on, so as not to ruin prints for the police. As he got onto the elevator, all he could smell was liquor and he knew instantly that this was the elevator that the men had been in. The other elevators had been locked at 5 when the offices closed.

When Jim got to William’s office, he saw the door ajar and pushed it open without even thinking. The first thing he saw was his little brother lying in a pool of blood. Jim rushed to his side to see if he was still alive. Jim couldn’t hear anything but his own heartbeat at that time. Steven had no pulse. Jim then went to William, and saw his father lying there in another pool of blood. Jim checked for a pulse and found none on his dad either. At that moment, cops came into the office and pulled Jim away from his family and threw him up against a wall.

Jim heard some more people come into the room and one of them said, “This might be Jim Ellison. Why don’t you ask him his name before you toss him around the room?”

“Hey Sandburg, he was over the body. What did you think we were going to do?” The cop asked.

“Masters, get the fuck away from him right now,” Sandburg shouted back. "If he was the killer, do you think he would still be here?"

“Is Major Crime taking this over?” Masters asked.

“Yes, Captain Banks is on his way up right now. Now stop manhandling this man and let him go,” Sandburg said still shouting.

They let Jim go. He found he could hardly breathe and doubled over trying to get his breath back. Suddenly he felt a calm presence next to him, rubbing his shoulders as he tried to breathe.

“Can you tell me who you are?” The kind voice asked.

Jim looked up at him from his bent over position and answered, “Jim Ellison.”

“Mr. Ellison, did you just get here?” The kind man asked next.

“My dad had me on the speaker phone. I heard it all. My dad offered them money from the safe, but they turned him down. Then they shot them. My dad was shot first, followed by my brother Steven. They didn’t have a care in the world as they left the office. They knew that this building was ours and there would be no one else around. I drove up and jumped out and rode the elevator up. I smelled the liquor in the car and knew they were probably drunk too. Didn’t you all smell it?” Jim asked finally standing up and getting his second wind.

All the cops looked from one to another and Sandburg said, “My name is Detective Blair Sandburg. If you have any questions at all, they should be addressed to me or my superior, Captain Simon Banks.”

“I know Captain Banks,” Jim said quietly and very sadly.

Captain Banks walked in at that moment and said, “What’s going on here, Ellison?”

Jim once again told his story. Once he was done Jim sat down in a chair and put his head in his hands.

Captain Banks asked Detective Sandburg, “Are they taking prints right now?”

“Yes, they’re in there taking prints and seeing if anything is missing, although I highly doubt it, it seemed like they just came to kill them, not get money. Almost like they had already been paid,” Sandburg said.

Jim listened to them talk and to the men getting prints in the office and before he knew it, he was somewhere where there was no pain and no noise or light.

“Detective Sandburg, Mr. Ellison seems to have gone into shock or something, he won't respond to us,” Masters said.

Blair went over and saw that Jim still had his sun glasses on and Blair pulled them off. He began to talk to Jim softly.

“Mr. Ellison, I need you to follow my voice and come back to us,” Blair said.

Jim opened up his eyes and squinted from the light in the office and took the sunglasses from Blair and said, “Sorry about that.”

At that moment, one of the officers dropped a paperweight onto a desk and it made quite a loud noise and Jim covered up his ears when he heard it. Blair watched him do it and wondered how many senses were heightened.

Blair sat next to Jim and whispered, “How many are heightened?”

Jim looked at Blair and answered just as quietly, “All five. How did you know?”

Blair reached into his pocket and grabbed one of his cards and handed it to Jim. “I want you to come down to the station house tomorrow and we’ll finish the questioning there. Do you want to tell your family about this, or do you want us to notify everyone?”

Jim quickly answered, “I’ll tell Steven’s wife and children. Then I’ll tell my father’s fiancé. So consider it all taken care of.”

“Mr. Ellison, maybe you should have someone go along with you to help soften the blow,” Blair suggested.

“You want to keep a cop on me to watch my movements?” Jim asked angrily.

“No, I was thinking about going with you myself, to help tell the family members. I’ll need to see them anyway, so I could possibly help you,” Blair said.

“In that case, I could use the help with telling them. Bailey isn’t going to take this well at all. She hated that he worked so late at night and worried about him non-stop,” Jim explained.

“Don’t blame yourself, Mr. Ellison. You couldn’t have predicted what would happen tonight, am I right?” Blair asked.

“No, I never would have ever predicted this and please call me Jim. Mr. Ellison was my father,” Jim said sadly.

“Okay, Jim and you call me Blair. Who do we go see first?” Blair asked.

The phone line started to ring, making everyone jump. Blair reached over with his gloved hands and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“I need to speak to Jimmy, please.” The woman asked.

"Could I ask who is calling for Mr. Ellison?" Blair asked.

"Who is this?" The woman asked

"I'm Detective Blair Sandburg from Cascade PD. Who is this?" Blair asked.

"This is Jimmy's ex-wife and I want to talk to him right now," She demanded.

"I'm going to hand the phone over to Jim and you can talk to him," Blair said handing the phone to Jim.

Jim grabbed the phone and said, "Carolyn something horrible has happened. Dad and Steven were killed tonight," Jim explained.

"Oh my god Jimmy, I'm so sorry. I was calling to see about our monthly dinner date. I can't believe this news. Is there anything I can do?" Carolyn asked.

Jim looked at his calendar for the date and realized that it was time for Carolyn to take him out for dinner. She did it once a month like clockwork.

Jim thanked her for her concern but assured her he had everything under control. He was trying to remain calm and strong at the same time so his ex-wife wouldn’t have to worry about him. When he finally hung up the phone, he was exhausted.

Captain Banks walked up to Jim and said, “Are you certain you didn’t see anything outside the building?”

“No sir, I didn’t see anything or anyone,” Jim replied.

Blair said, “Captain, I’m going to take Jim Ellison to his place so he can shower and change, then we’re going to notify the family members.”

“Good idea. That way you can see if anything looks amiss,” Captain Banks answered.

Jim said, “There won’t be anything amiss with the two women we have to contact. Believe me they’re going to be lost without these men.”

“Glad to hear it, Mr. Ellison,” Captain Banks said.

“Call me Jim, please?”

“Call me Simon then. You go ahead and leave and we’ll get back to you tomorrow at the station. Did Detective Sandburg ask you to come in tomorrow?”

“Yes, Simon, he did. I’ll be there first thing in the morning,” Jim remarked.

So Jim and Blair walked out of the building and Blair looked around as they walked on the sidewalk.

Jim noticed him looking for something and Blair said, “There are no cameras?”

“Yes, they’re up there. They are hidden. Do you want the footage right now?” Jim asked.

“That would be a good thing. I can’t believe we almost let this go. They might be on camera. Where do you keep the discs?” Blair inquired.

Jim started back into the building and said, “They are in the video room, I can make copies for you and bring them in first thing in the morning. I would do it right now, but I'm covered in blood and need to take a shower.”

Blair called upstairs to Captain Banks and told him they would have the disc of the evening first thing in the morning.

~~~~~

When Blair drove up and parked at Jim’s loft, he was surprised; he expected some penthouse somewhere, not this part of town at all.

Jim got out of the car and said, “Come on up. You can have a drink while I take a quick shower. I have to get this blood off of me.”

Blair followed him up the stairs, since the elevator was out of order and walked into 307 and looked around. It was a nice loft apartment, very clean and almost cold looking. Not much on the walls or surfaces. Blair could tell that there wasn’t a woman in Jim Ellison’s life, or it would look warmer and more lived in.

Jim got Blair a bottle of water, went upstairs to get his clean clothing and take his shower. Blair looked at things while Jim was in the shower. He saw some pictures on the shelves that made him feel sad for Jim. It was of Jim, Steven and his family. Then there was one of William and Jim. They looked very happy in the pictures and Blair couldn’t imagine Jim Ellison having anything to do with these murders. Although, he still needed to check things out, because after all, he was a detective. He wasn’t going to believe Jim just because he said he didn’t do it.

When Jim came out, he looked very presentable. He wasn’t too overdressed, but wasn’t wearing jeans either. Dockers and a polo shirt was a good look for Jim. Blair wondered when he thought thinking that way about him. Why should he care what he was wearing? Like he didn’t have enough on his plate already?

Jim said, “Ready to go?”

“Yes, I’m ready whenever you are. Are you sure you don’t want me to do it alone?” Blair offered.

“No, I want to be there for Bailey and Rose. They deserve to hear it from me,” Jim assured Blair.

The drive across town was very quiet. Jim noticed that Blair seemed to have something on his mind. “Do you have questions you want to ask me before we get there?”

“I have a few,” Blair admitted.

“It’s going to take a while, so ask,” Jim said.

“First of all, do you know about your father and your brother’s wills? I mean, do you know who will get the money from their estate?”

“My father, brother and I all set our wills up the same day. My father’s will should read that a portion of his estate will go to me and Steven, the grandkids and Rose would get the rest of it. She doesn’t know this. He was planning on marrying her soon. She doesn’t know that either. Steven’s will was set up for his wife and children to get his entire estate. They are both worth about ten million each.”

“So, the women would get the money from the estate,” Blair said.

“Yes, but if you think either of them had anything to do with it, you’re wrong. Wait until you meet them. They both loved those men more then you would believe. Bailey is going to be lost without Steven. They are both good women, you wait and see for yourself,” Jim promised.

“Okay, I think I agree with you. It just didn’t feel right thinking someone from the family did it. Can you think of anyone that would hurt them from a deal gone bad? Did anyone have a security system installed that didn't do the trick? Or was anyone hurt because of your systems?” Blair asked.

“We’ve never had any complaints from any of our clients. Everything has been great for the last five years. So I don’t think you’re going to find it there either,” Jim stated.

“Jim, you didn’t say who the beneficiary in your will was. It might be important,” Blair said.

“Carolyn is still on my will. I didn’t redo it after the divorce. I guess I should take care of that. At least now I have a niece and a nephew to leave my money to,” Jim answered.

“How do you feel about Carolyn?” Blair asked.

“You think Carolyn had something to do with this? She would never do anything like this. She’s a good person. She loved Steven and my dad. She got along with them better then she did me. She would never hurt them,” Jim assured Blair.

“Okay, I just wanted to get your take on it,” Blair replied.

Blair asked more questions all the way over to Bailey’s house. None of them seemed to be helping with the investigation. Blair was at a standstill.

~~~~~

They arrived at Bailey and Steven’s house and Jim got out and looked like he was about to cry. Blair touched Jim’s arm and said, “Do you want me to tell her?”

“No, I’ll tell her. I’m just sad. This will destroy her,” Jim said as he started up the stairs.

Blair followed and noticed that Jim seemed to be shaking. Blair didn’t wish this on his worst enemy. What a nightmare.

Jim rang the doorbell and Bailey opened it and said, “Oh Jim, it’s so good to see you. Come on in. Kids, look, Uncle Jim is here and he’s brought a friend for you to meet.”

Jim hugged each of the children and said hello. “Do you mind if I talk to your mom alone?”

“Lily wants me to play Hungry, Hungry Hippo, so we’re doing that,” Kevin said.

“Okay, you and Lily go play while Uncle Jim talks to mommy,” Jim kissed them both on the top of the head before they left the room.

“God, Jim, something happened, didn’t it?” Bailey asked.

"Bailey, this is Detective Blair Sandburg and he's here to help me tell you some horrible news," Jim said.

Jim led her over to the sofa, made her sit down and then he explained what had happened that night. She sobbed into Jim’s shoulder and begged him to say it wasn’t true. Jim just held on tight and didn’t let her go.

“I asked him to come home early tonight, why couldn’t he have listened for once?” Bailey asked.

“He was on his way. He stopped at dad’s office and that’s when the men came in,” Jim explained.

“Do the police know who did it? Do they have any leads? I want them to catch them. They have to be made to pay, Jim," Bailey sobbed.

 

Jim held her close and kissed the top of her head. “Bailey, I’ll take care of everything. You just take care of yourself and the kids. If you need anything, you know I’m a phone call away. I’ve got to go and tell Rose now,” Jim said as he started to get up.

“Oh my god, Rose is going to just die. She wanted to be Mrs. William Ellison in the worst way. Now that’s taken away from her too. I’ll call her in a couple of hours and see how she’s doing. Now I need to go tell my children. Thank you for breaking the news to me yourself, Jim. You’re a very good man.”

“Would you like me to call your folks, Bailey?” Jim asked.

“I’ll call them after I talk to the children,” Bailey replied.

Jim and Blair left the sad woman to deal with her children and got into the car. “Jim, do you want to talk about anything?”

“No, I just want to tell Rose and go home for the night. This night feels like it’s never going to end,” Jim replied.

“What is the lawyer’s name who would have all of the business and financial information for us?”

“His name is Mitchell Benson. I have his number and address at the loft. I’ll tell you when we get back after telling Rose,” Jim said.

The drive across town was very quiet. Jim was depressed and Blair knew it. He had no thoughts about Bailey being the one that had them murdered. She just didn’t seem the type.

When they arrived at William’s house, Jim just sat there. He didn’t budge from the car.

Blair said, “Do you want me to take over this one?”

“Maybe. She’s going to be devastated. I have to stay strong for this,” Jim admitted.

The two men walked to the door and rang the doorbell.

Rose smiled when she saw Jim, until she saw the look on his face. “Come in and tell me why you look so scared, Jim.”

Blair decided it was his turn. “I’m Detective Blair Sandburg from the Cascade Police Department, Major Crime Unit. I have some terrible news.”

Rose went right to the sofa and sat down. She already had tears in her eyes and Jim knew she was ready to lose it. Blair told her exactly what they had told Bailey and she sobbed into Jim’s shoulder, just like Bailey had.

Blair wondered if Jim had anyone to comfort him.

Blair asked her a couple of questions, nothing much, because he truly didn’t feel like she had anything to do with it either. Jim gave him a look like he was grateful that he didn’t ask more questions and before long it was time for them to leave.

Jim told Rose that he would handle everything.

When they got out to the car, Jim put the sunglasses on again, but Blair thought this time it was because he didn’t want to appear weak.

~~~~~

When they arrived back at the loft, Blair dropped Jim off and Jim was grateful to be alone. He needed to mourn his own way and he couldn’t do it with Blair Sandburg there.

“Thank you for helping me, Blair,” Jim said.

“It was my pleasure, Jim. I’m so sorry for your loss. If you need anything before tomorrow morning, please feel free to call me. I already gave you one of my cards,” Blair remarked.

“I’ll bring all of the information about the lawyer and the disc when I come tomorrow,” Jim said.

“Thank you, Jim. We’ll see you tomorrow,” Blair answered.

Jim walked away from the car and into the building and Blair drove off for the night.

Jim was never so sad in his life. He dreaded being alone, but knew there was no one he had to call that he could talk to about this.

Jim knew he had to look up that license plate number while it was still fresh in his mind. He got his laptop out and started looking for the information that he needed. Their company had many, many programs that allowed them the same abilities that cops had in finding out information. Money sometimes can buy almost anything. Almost.

Jim found the license plate number and the driver. His name was Travis Miller. Jim got the address and the phone number and wrote it down. Then he looked up Travis Miller to see if he had a record and he sure did. Then Jim looked at the list of known accomplices and saw two names that stuck out big time. Emmanuel Lopez and August Dane. That would be Manny and Gus. Jim felt like he had found his three men and really should call Blair and tell him, but Jim wanted to take care of this himself. It was his job to see that they were punished in the same cruel manner that they had treated William and Steven.

Jim knew that he had to go and retrieve the disc from the office building. He drove across town with many things on his mind, but the main thing was finding these men and taking care of them in the same manner that they took care of his family.

Once he got the disc, he then made a copy for Sandburg for the next morning and took off to view it in privacy at his loft.

The drive home was twice as long as the drive over had been. Now he knew that he was going to see something horrible and had to get himself ready for what he saw.

~~~~~

Once he arrived at his loft, he got the disc into the machine and began to watch.

He saw they had masks on and were obviously drunk. Two of them could hardly walk because of the drinking. Jim knew that he had smelled it on the elevator and now he knew why.

He watched in horror as the assholes callously took the lives of his brother and father. Jim felt something wet on his face and wiped at it and realized he was crying. He got up and started throwing things around the room. He smashed the television and then went for things in the office. He was so full of anger he could hardly see straight.

Then a horrible thought hit Jim. What if this had been done by someone he had been seeing lately? He never saw the same man more then once and sometimes they weren’t happy about it. They felt used and abused and told Jim as much. Could one of them done this? Jim was going to have to tell Blair Sandburg about his lifestyle, so that he could perhaps look into it for him.

At three in the morning, Jim finally crawled into bed. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to go to sleep, but that was the last thought he had.

~~~~~

At ten o’clock the next morning, Jim walked into Major Crimes. Blair was on the phone talking and motioned for Jim to take a seat.

Jim sat down in front of Blair’s desk and waited to talk to the detective.

Blair hung up the phone and said, “Thank you for coming down so early. I have a few questions to ask you, would you like to follow me to interrogation room 2? It’s more private.”

Jim stood and followed him to the room and then sat down when they got there.

Before Blair Sandburg even got started Jim handed him the disc he had promised him.

"Thank you, Jim. This will help us a great deal, I hope," Blair stated.

“I hope it does help.”

“First of all, let me tell you that I don’t like asking questions like this, but it’s something I have to do. You didn’t mention anything about a girlfriend, other then your ex-wife and I need to find out who you’ve been seeing lately and see if there is anything that goes with the murders.”

Jim pulled a paper out and said, “I knew you would need a list of the men that I had slept with in the last month, so here is the list. Some of them were mad when I told them I didn’t want to see them again, so it might be something to look into. I’m not sure.”

“You’re always one step ahead of me. Captain Banks said that you would be easy to deal with. He’s had a couple of cases that dealt with your company and he said that your family was good people,” Blair said.

Blair then began to take Jim's statement of what happened the evening before. Blair went slowly, giving Jim time to breathe in between questions.

Once Blair seemed done, Jim asked, “Is there anything else you want to ask me?”

“No, I think we have everything we need. I’ll call you if there is anything else we have a question about. Otherwise I’ll see you at the funeral. Once again, I’m so sorry for your loss,” Blair commented.

“Thank you for all that you have done for me. I’d appreciate seeing you at the service. It would be nice to see a friendly face,” Jim admitted.

“I’ll see you there. Now go home and rest. Don’t go back to work yet. It’s just too damn soon. You seem the type to work instead of mourning, but you can’t do that,” Blair advised.

“Actually I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where I should go and who I should see. I’m totally lost,” Jim confessed.

Blair said, “Call me tonight and we’ll chat. I’ll help you through some of it, all right?”

“Thank you that would be nice. Until then,” Jim said and then walked out of the room.

~~~~~

When Jim arrived home, there was a call from Carolyn. He called her back.

“You called?” He said.

“Jimmy, I’m so sorry about your family. What can I do to help?”

“Bring them back?” Jim asked sadly.

“Would you like me to come over for old time’s sake?” Carolyn asked.

“No thank you, I have many things to do and I just wanted to call and tell you that I don’t know when the funeral will be. I’ll let you know as soon as possible,” Jim said before he hung up.

Once he was off the phone, he felt like he could start doing his work. He needed to find these men and bring them to justice, his own brand of justice. They weren’t going to have the luxury of prison. Oh no, they were going to suffer. Jim had some plans made.

~~~~~

Jim called to see when the bodies would be released and they told him they were hoping for Saturday, so Jim began making the plans for the funeral. He called Blair to tell him where the funeral would be taking place and when he thought it would be. He knew that he just wanted to talk to the man again. Blair Sandburg was one very nice looking man and Jim hoped someday they might date. Then he remembered what he planned on doing and shook his head.

Blair finally answered the phone and said, “Sandburg.”

“Blair, this is Jim Ellison. I wondered if you had time to help me plan a few things for the funeral. I don’t have anyone to help me and I don’t want to ask Bailey or Rose. They are both just too upset to do anything. I wanted to tell you where the funeral was going to take place.”

“I’ll come over tonight and we’ll see what we can get done. Would you like me to bring dinner?” Blair asked.

“That would be great. Chinese?” Jim asked.

“Chinese it is. I’ll see you about 6:30 tonight,” Blair said.

Jim got off the phone and actually smiled. Then he remembered what he had to plan and the smile was gone. Jim knew what his father and his brother had planned for a funeral, because they had all discussed it one day. Jim even knew what funeral home to have it at and had mentioned that much to Blair already. He knew his father wanted a nice casket, but yet nothing flashy. William thought it was a waste of money. Steven agreed with William on that subject, so this would be easy to plan. Now Jim had to call Bailey and Rose to see if they agreed to let him choose everything as he had planned. Hopefully, things would go quickly and easily. When it came to the funeral itself, he wasn’t quite sure what to do and was hoping to ask Blair about it when he saw him. He was sure that Blair was more knowledgeable in this area.

Jim picked up the phone and called Bailey.

“Hello?” Bailey said.

“Bailey, I’m made some of the funeral arrangements and wanted to be sure it was all right with you,” Jim stated.

“Jim, whatever you decide will be fine with me. Steven and I never discussed this and we should have. Did he tell you what he wanted?” Bailey asked.

“Yes, he and dad both had the same ideas on funeral arrangements, so it’s fairly easy to plan. Now I need to talk to Rose.”

“Jim, let me call Rose and tell her what you’ve decided on and she can call you if she doesn’t agree. How does that sound?”

“Bailey, she might want to tell me something about the arrangements. I should talk to her,” Jim stressed.

“Okay, that’s fine with me. I just thought it would make things easier for you if I called her. She’s not doing well is she?” Bailey wondered.

“None of us are, Bailey. I’ll talk to you later when I have all of the information for the service.”

“Goodbye, Jim.”

“Goodbye, Bailey.

Jim hated talking to her about his brother’s funeral. Of all the things you would be talking to your sister-in-law about, this was on the bottom of the list.

Jim dialed Rose’s number and Rose answered on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“Rose, this is Jim. I’ve made some of the funeral arrangements and wanted to share them with you and see if you agree with everything, or if you want it to be much differently.” Jim then proceeded to tell Rose what he had planned so far and what he and William had discussed at the office.

“Whatever you decide on is fine with me, Jim. I really don’t feel like talking right now. I’ll talk to you later.”

Just like that, Rose was gone and Jim was left to wonder if she was all right.

~~~~~

Blair got off the phone and wondered why he was going to help Jim Ellison plan a funeral. He had never gotten so involved with any of his cases before, but he really like this man. At least he knew that Jim dated men.

Blair was sitting at his desk in Major Crimes when Captain Banks said, "Sandburg, my office."

Blair got up, walked in and said, "What's up, Simon?"

"Shut the door," Simon barked.

Blair shut the door, sat down and waited for what his boss had to say. "So what do you think about Jim Ellison having something to do with the murders?"

"Sir? Why would you think Jim Ellison had anything to do with the murders? He's not guilty, of this I'm sure," Blair answered.

"We talked with the lawyer today and Jim Ellison will get half of his father's estate when the dust dies down. Makes you think twice about a motive," Simon stated.

"I disagree. He's quite forthcoming with all of his answers and he seems to be more then helpful any time I ask him anything. I think we're going to have to do some old fashioned leg work on this one," Blair commented.

"I trust your judgment, Sandburg, so if you think it's someone else, then find them."

"Thank you, sir. I'll do my best. I have Rafe and Brown working on this with me, so it shouldn't take long to find the killers. Did you watch the disc yet?" Blair asked.

"Yes, they wore masks and gloves and they were really drunk, so I figure they probably screwed up and took off their gloves somewhere. So far we only have prints matching all of the Ellisons and the secretary. No one else is showing up as yet. The secretary said that the cleaners had just been in right before she left for the weekend. So there were clean surfaces everywhere. It's a shame that we didn't get any useful prints. William Ellison did offer them money and they turned him down. They acted like they didn't need any more money. So we're looking for stupid killers. What normal murderer would turn down money, even if he did plan on killing them both, why not take the money first and then kill them? So get to work Sandburg, I want these men found as quickly as possible," Simon ordered.

"Yes sir," Blair said as he stood up to head back to his desk.

Once there he talked to Rafe and Brown about what they should do next. Then Blair noticed it was almost time for him to take off and stop by Jim Ellison's place. He found himself looking forward to it.

~~~~~

Blair drove to the Chinese place to pick up dinner for himself and Jim Ellison. He really liked the man and hoped that when this was all over with, he could ask Jim out on a date, one that didn't involve death or arrests.

Blair had called and found out when the bodies would be released and had told them which funeral parlor to send them to. Jim had told him earlier where it would be.  
~~~~~

When Blair showed up at Jim's door at 6:30, Jim opened it before Blair even knocked.

Blair smiled and said, "You heard me, didn't you?"

Jim smiled back and said, “Yes, but why doesn’t it seem to freak you out?”

“I read about people like you when I was in college, they were called Sentinels. They were the watchmen of the tribes and could see, hear and smell things from far, far away. I think that might be what you are. I’ve seen people with two or three senses heightened, but never five. How long have you been like this?” Blair wondered.

"I think I was ten when it first showed up. My dad always kept it a big secret, because he didn't want anyone to take me away from him. He was afraid they would think I was a freak or something. Actually, I think he thought that, but didn't want to hurt my feelings and say it out loud. So did you meet many people that had these problems?" Jim asked.

"They aren't problems, Jim, they are a gift. You are truly blessed to have this bestowed on you," Blair said very seriously.

"I would just like to get rid of them," Jim barked.

"Let's sit down and eat and I can tell you how to begin to control the senses. You'll be able to do things you've never done before and love it. I promise you," Blair said as he took their food to the table.

"There is a way to control them?" Jim asked.

"I'm going to tell you about a set of dials in your mind first and then we'll go from there."

Blair went on and explained everything he needed to about dials to control the senses. He told Jim about piggy-backing the senses so he didn't focus too much on one sense and have a zone out, which Jim said he did quite a bit. Then he told him about having someone around that could help Guide him because now and then he would have to be talked out of a zone.

Jim ate dinner and listened to all that Blair had to tell him and then he said, “I’ve got to plan a funeral, so let’s focus on that and the Sentinel crap can come later.”

Blair almost laughed at the remark but knew it wasn’t the time or place for laughing.

Blair dug out the two choices for a prayer card that would have Steven and William’s picture on it. “I picked these up at the funeral home and they need to have the prayer, quote or bible verse for it with any information that you want added to it. I’ll also need a great picture of both of them. Then I’ll take them and have them printed up for you tomorrow. I’m off, so I have nothing else to do. The funeral director told me what I needed to do and he suggested where we go for exactly what you need. If you let them plan it, it’s not the same. It is their job after all and I’m sure they do a fine one, but they didn’t know your dad or Steven. It’s better to do it yourself. Do you mind me taking over like this?”

Jim got up and grabbed some papers and then two pictures. “I didn’t know where to start. Thank you so much for researching all of this so I didn’t have to do it. Here are the bible verses I want on both of them and these are the pictures I chose of them. They both looked very happy in them, so I thought that would be a much better picture for the card. What do you think?”

“These are great, man. You did a good job finding just the right pictures. I’ll take them first thing in the morning and they’ll be done tomorrow night. How many do you want to have printed up?” Blair asked.

“I would guess about 150 of them, what do you think?” Jim inquired.

Blair smiled and said, “I think you know a lot more people then I do. I’ll have 150 of them printed of each. I’ll pick them up tomorrow night and drop them over at the Funeral Home. You’re going with East Lawn Palms, right?”

“Yes, it hasn’t changed. I need to have the bodies sent over there so they can get started and we can make plans. I’ve written the obituary for both of them and I called Bailey to double check with her about Steven’s. Then I double checked with Rose about dads. They both thought I did a good job. Rose doesn’t really want to discuss the funeral and Bailey is so brokenhearted that I don’t even like discussing this with her. It doesn’t seem like that hard of a job, but it took me all day long,” Jim said.

“The bodies went over to East Lawn Palms today. I checked and they left at 3:00. So you don’t have to worry about that any longer. You can call them tomorrow and see when the service will take place and then fax them the obituary to put in the paper. Do you need any help tomorrow?” Blair questioned.

“I’ll tell you what I would like. I would like for you to spend the night with me. I’m not talking sex. I’m just talking spending the night. I can’t seem to fucking sleep anymore and when I do finally get to sleep, the dreams wake me up,” Jim pleaded.

“Jim, it wouldn’t look good if I spent the night with you. I’m working on the case and I can’t do it,” Blair explained.

“Sure, no problem,” Jim said getting up from the table and getting a beer for himself and Blair. He handed Blair the beer, but didn’t look him in the eyes.

“Jim, I would really like to spend the night, but because of my job, it just wouldn’t work,” Blair tried to make him understand.

“I said it’s no problem. Don’t worry about it,” Jim said coldly.

“Give me a week, to try and get some of this out of the way. I’ve got to work the case and I can’t do it if I’m sleeping with you,” Blair explained more.

“You think you’re going to have this wrapped up in a week?” Jim asked sounding skeptical.

“We might. You never know. Now I need to get to work. I’ll take care of the printing tomorrow and have them sent over to the funeral home. You try and rest tonight and I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Blair said as he got ready to leave.

Blair touched Jim’s face and left his hand there for a moment. Jim leaned into the hand and Blair thought it was one of the most wonderful things he had ever felt in his life. Jim Ellison wanted Blair Sandburg. Would wonders never cease?

“Jim, no sex, but I’ll sleep with you tonight.”

Jim shook his head and said, “No, you’re right. We’ll wait. Besides we’re sort of jumping the gun, I think.” Jim decided.

Blair looked a little confused, but then said, “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. Sleep well.”

Jim walked him to the door and then shut and locked it after Blair departed. Jim had decided that Blair couldn’t stay because tonight was the night Jim was going to start watching Travis Miller. It was important that he saw him, watched him and followed him for the next week or so. He didn’t have time to sleep with Blair Sandburg. What had he been thinking when he asked him that? Jim changed into a black tee shirt and blue jeans and got ready to go. He brought his video camera, his still camera and a tape recorder.

The first thing Jim did was pick up the storage units that he needed. They were guaranteed to hold a tiger, so Jim figured that would be strong enough for what he needed them for. They were big enough for a man to sit in them and sleep in them. They were also big enough to keep a portable toilet in it. They were large enough that he had to make three trips to pick them up. Once that was done, he just needed to get the other supplies.

By the time, Jim put all of the things in the building he was going to use, it was 2:00 in the morning. The building was an old building that was used by some clients at one time. William had bought the property and now Jim had all of the privacy he needed for this job. It had three floors and an underground garage. It was perfect.

Jim lay on the sleeping bag that he brought with him and napped for about an hour. Then he got busy and put together all of the storage units and got everything set up for the next day. Each unit went on a different floor, so they wouldn’t be able to hear each other talking. Jim wasn’t certain what he was going to do to them yet, but he knew he had to find out who had asked them to kill the Ellison’s.

At six in the morning, he went to breakfast across from where Travis Miller lived in hopes that he would see him. He watched until about 9:00 and then it paid off because out walked Travis Miller, big as day. Jim made sure he had the right man, looking at the picture once again, and he was pretty sure. Best way to find out was to ask him.

Jim paid his check for breakfast and walked down the street behind Travis. Travis turned around and stared at Jim and Jim just smiled. He said, “Travis Miller?”

Travis stopped and said, “Yeah, what do you want?”

“I want to hire you for something and we need to talk in my SUV. It’s pretty hush, hush, so I can’t tell you about it out here,” Jim said, hoping he would take the bait.

“Sure, I always need work, where is your SUV?” Travis said as they walked side by side to the SUV parked in the parking lot. As soon as they got in, Jim hit him with a taser and Travis was out like a light. Jim rushed over to the building he was going to hold him in, parked in the garage and carried Travis fireman style up the stairs. He took off Travis’s shoes and socks and his jacket and began his work. He put a chain around his waist and put it plenty tight, so the man couldn’t get loose. Then he put a lock in it to keep it solid. Jim then put him in the storage unit. Each of the storage units had windows and a door on it, so they would have ample air to breathe. There was a blanket on the floor of the unit and the portable toilet was sitting in there too. Jim went and got two bottles of water for the man and then locked the main unit up. He sat over on the chair he had brought along until Travis started to wake up.

The man looked at his surroundings and started to fight the chain, but the more he fought, the tighter it felt, so he finally stopped it. He looked across the room and saw Jim and you could see the fear in his eyes. “What do you want?”

“I want you to talk to me about the two men you killed this last week,” Jim said softly.

“I didn’t kill no one, so you can let me go now,” Travis shouted.

“You can shout and scream all you want. No one is here. You’re all alone, just you and me. The windows are all blacked out, so no one can see in. They won’t know when we’re here or when we’re not. Although you’re going to be staying until you tell me what I want to hear?”

“I don’t know anything about the men that you’re talking about,” Travis shouted again.

Jim had a little DVD player and he played the DVD of the three men shooting his dad and his brother. Watching it again, made his stomach turn, but he knew he had to do it.

“This is how I know you did it. You see, here you are and then I saw your car pull away from the building right after that. So now you’re going to tell me all about this, or I’m going to fuck you up like you’ve never dreamed.”

“Man, I didn’t do anything. That’s not me. They’re wearing masks. I ain’t got no mask. You can ask anyone. And I wasn’t anywhere near that building on Monday,” Travis said.

“Well, that’s interesting because I didn’t tell you what day it was. How would you have known it was Monday?” Jim asked.

“Just let me go now and I won’t tell anyone about this storage unit shit. What kind of freak are you anyhow?” Travis said hoping that changing the subject would help.

“Travis, do you know what Cannibals are?” Jim asked still very softly.

“Why?” Travis asked, looking scared for the second time that day.

“I happen to know some and they’re looking for fresh meat. It depends on how helpful you are, whether you will be their meals for the next week or so. Do you want to tell me about the men or not?” Jim asked quietly.

Travis started screaming at the top of his lungs and Jim just smiled.

“Okay, Travis, have it your way. But either you, Gus or Manny are going to talk to me and whoever doesn’t will be used as food,” Jim sneered.

“I swear, I don’t know anything about those guys. I swear. How do you know about Gus and Manny?” Travis suddenly put two and two together.

“I have a storage unit for each of you lucky men. And the one that tells me what I want to know gets to go free. The others are going to be meals for friends of mine,” Jim said coldly.

“Maybe Gus and Manny know something, but I don’t.”

“Then you’ll be the meal,” Jim said as he got up and got some snacks for Travis. “Here you go; I have to keep you fattened up. They don’t like scrawny meat.”

Jim started to walk to the door and Travis said, “Where are you going?”

Jim smiled evilly and answered, “Hunting.”

Travis shivered and tried to get loose once again, only making his waist and his ankle hurt like crazy.

“I’ll be back to talk to you later. Eat up,” Jim said laughing evilly as he walked out.

As Jim walked down the stairs, he could hear Travis begging for Jim to let him loose. These animals didn’t care about anything but money and Jim was going to make them pay.

~~~~~

Jim got to the loft at the same time as Blair arrived.

“Hey, Jim, I’ve been calling your cell all day long, but you didn’t answer.”

“Sorry, I must have turned it off yesterday. Let me check now,” Jim pulled his cell phone out and turned it on. “I didn’t even remember turning it off.”

“No big deal. I got all of the printing done and everything is set to go to the newspapers, but I wanted to double check on everything before you fax it to the funeral home. Is that all right with you?” Blair asked.

“Sure, that’s fine with me,” Jim said walking alongside Blair as they both got into the elevator at his building.

“Did you sleep at all last night, Jim?”

“About an hour, I guess.”

“Things will get better, I know it. It just takes time. You look like something is on your mind, is everything all right?” Blair asked.

Jim looked at Blair somewhat guiltily and said, “I’m sorry for what I said last night. I never should have put you in that predicament.”

“About staying the night? That’s no biggy at all, Jim. Like I said, when this case if over with, I’d like to start dating,” Blair said happily.

“That sounds good to me, but you might want to get to know me better first,” Jim warned.

“I think I know everything I need to know about you. You’re a good man, a kind man and you would never hurt anyone like those animals hurt your family. That’s all I need to know,” Blair explained.

Jim felt guilty once again for doing what he was doing, behind Blair’s back. His being a cop didn’t help things at all.

“So do you know how to fax in the obituary?” Jim asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, I’ll show you now.”

They walked into the loft and Blair headed right for the computer room. He said, “Get it turned on and I’ll show you how to do it.”

“Yeah, I have a fax machine, a scanner and a copier all in one machine. Let me get done with some of my work first and then we’ll get busy with that,” Jim said when he realized he still had the program going for checking out those animals.

“I’ll get us a drink while you do that,” Blair said walking into the kitchen.

Jim hurried and shut down all of his programs and before long the computer was ready to go. Blair walked in and smiled. “Ready?”

“Just tell me what to do,” Jim answered.

For the next hour, Blair showed Jim how to send everything to the funeral home and it finally got done. Jim felt better once that was over and done with.

“Would you like to go out to eat dinner tonight?” Blair asked.

“No, I just want to be alone. Thank you, anyway. Maybe when you’re all done with this case.”

Blair knew it was going to come back and bite him in the ass. “Come on, Jim. Dinner, that’s all.”

“All right, what time and where?” Jim asked.

“I thought I would pick you up at 7:00 if that’s all right. Then we’ll go to Maria’s for Mexican food. How does that sound?” Blair inquired.

“I used to love Mexican food, but not since the senses came online. Everything burns my mouth,” Jim stated.

“We’ll turn down the volumes on your dials and you’ll be able to eat there tonight. Do you believe in me?” Blair smiled waiting for Jim’s reply.

“Sounds like a date, is it? I always believe in you.”

“Yes, in a manner of speaking. We’re going to go very slowly. Just dinner to start with and then we’ll discuss staying over night now and then,” Blair decided.

“Okay, I’ll be here at 7:00, but I have some errands to run, so I have to leave for the rest of the day,” Jim said.

“Okay, I can take a hint. I’ll see you back here at 7:00 and we’ll have a nice Mexican dinner,” Blair promised.

When Blair left, Jim got some things ready to go. He was going to sleep at the dock that night and see if he could move things along. He grabbed an air mattress and some blankets and his pillow and left to go and watch out for Manny. He was next on the list.

Manny Lopez was walking down his street when a nice looking man walked up and said, “Travis told me I could trust you and I was supposed to talk to you about getting rid of someone.”

“Where’s Travis?” Manny asked.

“He’s over at the building waiting for us. We’re going to have a meeting and talk about how much money you guys will need for it,” Jim explained.

“Cool, where’s your wheels?” Manny asked stupidly.

Jim led him to the SUV and did the same thing he did with Travis. As soon as Manny was buckled up in the seatbelt, Jim tasered him and he was down for the count.

When he got to the building, he pulled into the parking garage where no one could see anything and fireman lifted Manny on his shoulder and took him up one floor down from Travis. Jim did the same thing he did the earlier that day and got the animal put in his storage units.

When Manny woke up, he was frantic. “What are you doing, mister?”

“I’m going to fatten you up for some friends of mine that like humans. You’ve heard of cannibals, right? Well, they want a couple so I’m going to sell them you, Travis and Gus. It all depends on how much you tell me if you’re going to be eaten or not.” Jim just stood back and waited for him to mouth off.

Instead he started crying and said, “I’ll do whatever you want. What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to tell me that you killed those two men this last week and why,” Jim said coldly.

“Why? We got paid, mister.”

“You just killed two men for nothing, just for the money? How much money are we talking about?” Jim inquired.

“They paid Travis and Travis paid us. I got five hundred bucks. Is that all you needed to know?” The idiot asked.

“No…Why in the world would you shoot someone for five hundred bucks. They hadn’t done anything to you, am I right?”

“Well, the old man was just in the way. He wouldn’t get out of our way, so we had to do him too. We got paid for the other one,” Manny said.

“Steven?” Jim asked incredulously.

“No, man, I think his name was Jim or something. Yeah, it was Jim,” Manny said happily, giving Jim what he wanted to hear.

“You are such a fucking moron. You killed the wrong man,” Jim shouted. He grabbed two bottles of water and threw them into the storage unit with the animal, locked the door and left the room.

Once he was in the hallway, he took deep breaths, trying to figure out what he would do. They were after him. Not Steven and his dad. They had killed the wrong fucking person. Jim was finding it harder and harder to breathe, but he knew he couldn’t freak out now. Not when he was this close to finding out who hired them.

Jim got himself back in shape and walked into the room again. He opened up the unit once again and said, “So who hired you to kill this Jim person?”

“I don’t know, only Travis knows. They paid him and he paid us later. We were just doing our fucking job,” Manny said.

“Well, you did it wrong. Who do you suppose has to pay for the mistake that was made?” Jim asked.

“Oh god, don’t sell me to no cannibal,” Manny pleaded.

“I’ll think about it. I need to get some more from Travis. And what about Gus, does he know?”

“Gus was with me, he doesn’t know anything, so don’t even bother asking,” Manny said.

“Everything you need is in this unit. You’ll stay here until I decide what to do with you. Do you understand?”

The frightened young man shook his head yes.

“I’ll be around if you need me, just yell,” Jim said snickering to himself. Jim was a little scared of becoming weird because he was beginning to enjoy the fucking game.

He would have to get Gus after dinner, because he needed to get home and get ready for his date. Jim found it odd, that he was dating a cop and he was doing this on the side. What would Blair think of the new Jim Ellison?

~~~~~

When Blair got to the door, Jim opened it up. “I hate when you do that,” Blair teased.

“I’m ready if you are,” Jim said trying to get him out of the loft.

“You got some girlfriend in there or something?” Blair asked.

“No, just tired of being cooped up. Did you want to come in and have a drink before we leave?” Jim replied.

“I was joking. Let’s get to Maria’s and you can find out how well you can eat Mexican food now,” Blair said helpfully.

They drove across town and Jim parked the SUV. He had made sure it was cleaned out before he drove them.

“Jim, we have found some interesting things out from the video from the building that night. We think we might have one of guys’ names. A bunch of cops were watching the video and one of them recognized Manny Lopez’s jacket. No one has ever seen one like it. So we’re moving in the right direction. Right now they’re focusing on finding Manny Lopez, but so far, no one can find him. I just wanted you to know that we are working the case.”

“Thank you for keeping me posted, it’s really nice of you. The funeral is tomorrow. Would you like to sit with us?” Jim asked carefully, not trying to push himself on Blair at all.

“Yes, I would like to sit with you and stand with you at the graveside service. Thank you for asking me,” Blair said truthfully.

They walked into Maria’s and got a booth immediately. They knew Blair and seated him before anyone else.

“Hey, are you taking bribes from the owners?” Jim kidded.

“No, but I do a lot of things for their family, so they always give me the best table. Now come on, we’re going to work on your dials and get them down so you can eat whatever you want to,” Blair said.

They sat in the booth and Blair taught Jim how to find the dials and how to get them turned down. He did everything that Blair told him and it worked. The lights weren’t as bright, the smells weren’t so overwhelming and he felt like he might be able to eat some real Mexican food for a change.

“Thank you, Blair, it really did help,” Jim remarked.

Blair helped Jim order his dinner and Jim was shocked when he was able to eat it all. He hadn’t eaten much since the murders, so this was a nice change of pace.

“I’m going to be in the limousine tomorrow, would you like me to pick you up? Jim asked.

“That would be great.” Blair wrote down his address on the back of one of his cards and gave it to Jim.

“I’ll pick you up at about ten. The funeral starts at 11:30. Looks like it’s going to be a sunny day and that would be very nice. I always associate burying people with rain and cold,” Jim commented.

When they were finished Blair said, “Jim, I need to get back to my car. We’re all going to be looking for Manny Lopez tonight. I’ll try and keep it a short night so I’ll be ready in the morning.”

Jim paid the bill and they walked out to the parking lot. The drive home was pretty quiet. Both men seemed to be thinking and talking would just interfere with that.

When they drove into the parking lot, Blair asked, “Can I kiss you goodnight?”

“I think we should take it slow,” Jim responded.

“Jim, did I offend you in some way?”

“No, Blair, you didn’t offend me in any way. I just think we should take it slowly. Let’s wait until all of this is behind us, what do you say?”

“You’re right as usual. I’ll see you in the morning,” Blair said as he got out and slid behind his steering wheel. He smiled and waved at Jim as he drove off.

Jim watched Blair leave and then took off in his SUV looking for Gus Dane. He had a picture of him, but was hoping it would go easier then that. He wanted to find him at Manny’s house and then he wouldn’t have to keep looking all night long. He needed to speed this questioning up.

Jim pulled up in front of Manny’s apartment and watched everyone that came and went. It was Jim’s lucky night. Gus Dane came walking down the street and knocked on Manny’s door, three times before he gave up.

Worrying about cops watching out for Manny, Jim decided to confront Dane about a block away, Jim walked up beside him and said, “Manny was looking for you earlier. He told me to wait for you and bring you to him.”

“Who are you?” Gus asked.

“I’m the new client. I’m in negotiations with Manny and Travis right now. So if you want to be in on it, you have to follow me,” Jim suggested strongly.

“Sure, I need to get some more money from them anyway,” Gus said as he followed Jim to his SUV.

As usual, Jim followed the same routine and before long he had an unconscious Gus in his storage unit at the building. While he waited for Gus to wake up, he went upstairs to ask Travis some questions.

He walked into the room and Travis said, “Please let me go. I don’t want to be sold to no cannibal.”

“You should have thought about that before you took this job on,” Jim said.

“I don’t know the dude. So why does it matter so much?” Travis wondered.

“Travis, I’m going to ask you one more time if you know who paid you the money. If you don’t answer me, I’m going to notify my friends and tell them they’ll have fresh meat.”

“They never said their names. She had short brown hair and was a bitch and he was some high class lawyer. They were in it together. Now I answered you, do I get to go free?” Travis hoped.

“Not quite yet, Travis. I have to check your information out. If you saw a picture of the woman, would you recognize her?” Jim asked.

“Yeah, she paid us good money to do the job right. They’ll probably want their money back now. We already spent it. They’ll also be mad that we forgot to take the money out of their wallets. It was supposed to look like a robbery.” Travis was talking a little too much now. Jim was getting upset.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Travis. Sleep without dreams of cannibals,” Jim said as he left the room.

He walked down the stairs and had that terrible feeling that he was about to cry again. He needed a picture of Carolyn and the Ellison lawyer. Hopefully Travis would be willing to talk once he saw the picture of the two people that paid him. Jim knew it was a long shot, but who else would have hired three thugs to get rid of him. As far as Carolyn knew, the will still had her listed as a beneficiary. Their lawyer, Mitchell Benson would have told her if Jim had changed it. Another something Jim would have to do and quickly.

Jim walked into Gus’s room and told him the same line he had told the other two. He was much like Manny and started to cry. He swore to Jim that he wasn’t the one that had a gun. It was Manny and Travis that shot them that night. Jim asked if he knew who had hired them and he clammed up.

“If you know who it was, you had better talk to me. It’s your only chance,” Jim warned.

Gus said, “I think she was his wife. She didn’t like him very much and she wanted his money. He called her by a name, but I can’t remember what it was.”

“Caro?” Jim inquired.

“No, not Caro. But something like Carolyn or something similar to that. His name was Mitch, I do know that much. I happened upon them by accident, so they didn’t know that I saw them talking to Travis. No one knows. I didn’t even tell Manny,” Gus admitted freely.

Jim stood up and got two bottles of water out and told Gus, “You better just get comfortable for the night. I’ll talk to you tomorrow after I check everything out.”

“Please don’t make me stay here all alone,” Gus begged.

“You showed those two men you killed no mercy, why should I show you any?” Jim asked.

Gus looked at Jim long and hard and said, “You’re not letting us go are you?”

“Nope, I’m not letting you go,” Jim admitted and walked out of the room.

Jim had planned to spend the night there, but he needed to get home and do some work on some things before the funeral.

~~~~~

Jim began to make a new will on his computer. He put all of the information he needed to change. The rest was in the will maker already. Quicken had a good program and he was glad to have used it, so it was easy to change.

When he was all done, he went upstairs and slept for two or three hours and then took a shower to get ready for the worst day of his life.

~~~~~

It was five in the morning and he ran over to the building he had the men in and fed them before he left again. He could hear all of them begging for him to let them go, but Jim was showing them no mercy.

Then he got back to the loft and got ready for the funeral. He called Bailey and asked if she needed anything before he picked her up. She was thrilled to hear from him and said that it was a horrible day, but at least she still had a brother-in-law and the children still had an uncle in their lives.

Jim called Rose next to be sure she would be ready and was doing all right. She assured him that she was stronger then she looked. Jim considered himself a very lucky man to have these two women in his life. He knew that he couldn’t let these men free. He had to make them pay, he just wasn’t sure how. If he killed them, he would be no better then they were. What could he do to make it work?

~~~~~

Jim got in the limousine and had the driver pick Blair up first. Blair slid in and held Jim’s hand for a moment. It gave Jim great strength.

“I have some things to tell you,” Blair said softly.

“Right now?” Jim asked.

“Yes, we’ve been looking for Manny Lopez and his family has reported him missing, so now we’re worried that whoever paid them, is killing them off. We looked at known associates of Manny and came up with two other names and guess what? They’re also missing. Don’t you find that odd?” Blair asked sarcastically.

Jim knew right then, that Blair knew he was up to something. “I don’t find it that odd at all. Maybe whoever paid them knocked them off.”

“I find that hard to believe, Jim. Think about it. No dead bodies, just missing bodies. What would you think?” Blair asked.

“I think I would wait a few days and see if they’ll turn up,” Jim said quietly.

“Jim, what the fuck are you doing?” Blair asked getting as close to him as he possibly could.

“I have no idea. But when I figure it out, I’ll call you. I promise I will. Do you believe that I won’t harm them?” Jim wondered.

“I believe that you won’t harm them but you can’t do this. It’s against the law,” Blair pleaded with Jim.

“Where was the fucking law when they killed my family?” Jim asked.

Blair looked at Jim and said, “Two days, Jim and that’s it. Then you call me and tell me where I can find them.”

“I promise I will,” Jim said solemnly.

“Right now, I’m pissed off at you. You know I’m a cop and yet you still did it. I don’t see us going anywhere but downhill from here,” Blair said sadly.

“I understand, Blair.”

“Well, I don’t. I wanted to date you, damn it. Why in the hell did you have to do this?” Blair asked no one in particular.

“It’s something I had to take care of myself. I don’t expect you to understand or condone it. But I do expect you to believe that I will give them back to you in one piece,” Jim said seriously.

“Did you ever plan on telling me anything about it to help the case?” Blair asked.

Jim sighed and said, “I was planning on telling you a lot of things, but you found out about Manny Lopez on your own. I realized then that you’re a good detective and didn’t need my help.”

“Are they the ones, Jim?”

“Blair, I’ll tell you in two days,” Jim said.

“You’ve got until Monday. Do you have anything else to tell me?” Blair asked angrily.

“I was the one that was supposed to be dead. When you look into my will you’ll have your answers. Everything you want to know.”

“They killed the wrong men?” Blair asked sounding shocked.

“Yes, I wasn’t there. I was the one that was supposed to be dead, not my family. I have to live with that,” Jim said sadly.

“Here comes Bailey, let’s not talk about this any longer,” Blair suggested.

“I’ll call you on Monday,” Jim said.

“You’re not going to talk to me today?” Blair asked.

“Not about this,” Jim said.

“Jim, let me help you,” Blair pleaded.

The door opened and Bailey and the children stepped into the limousine. Jim hugged all three of them and almost started to cry. Kevin looked so much like Steven it wasn’t even funny.

Bailey said, “Kevin understands but Lily doesn’t know what death is yet. So she just keeps asking for him.”

Jim held on to Lily and told her how much he loved her. Then he held Kevin and told him much of the same. Blair watched and believed this to be one of the best men he’d ever met and he wasn’t going to see him go to prison.

They picked up Rose next and it was hard for her to be with Jim. Jim could tell she blamed him. Blair could tell also. Rose wanted her fiancé back and instead she had Jim sitting next to her. Rose found life most unfair.

~~~~~

The funeral was a lovely service and the graveside service was very nice too. Jim held Lily the entire time at both places. He was wild about the children and Bailey needed all the support she could get.

Carolyn and her family were all there and Jim had a hard time controlling himself. He wanted her to be dead in the worst way. Mitch was sitting with her family and this turned Jim’s stomach also. How dare they show up?

~~~~~

When they dropped Bailey, the children and Rose off Blair hugged them too, but Rose didn’t want any affection at all. Jim got sadder and sadder all the way to Blair’s house.

“Jim, it’s not your fault. She’s just angry right now and you’re the closest person she can lash out at,” Blair supposed.

“I know that. I’ll talk to you on Monday. See you then,” Jim said as he opened up the door.

Blair leaned in and kissed Jim softly and said, “Don’t do anything stupid and call me if you need help.”

Jim had hope for the first time in a week. Blair trusted him.

~~~~~

When Jim arrived home, he changed and went right to the building and decided what he had to do. He made sure that no one followed him, in case Blair had felt the need to tell someone about him.

When he arrived at the building, he went upstairs. He went up to Travis first and said, “I have good news and I have bad news.”

Travis asked, “What is the good news?”

“I’m going to set you free,” Jim answered.

“What’s the bad news?” Travis asked nervously.

“Those cannibals I told you about? They want you no matter what. They can find you anywhere except for one place. The only way to get away from them is to turn yourself into the police and tell them what you did. Prison would be much better then being eaten piece by piece, don’t you agree?”

Travis said, “So when do we get out of here?”

“Soon, but you have to remember that they’re going to be watching you, so you need to go to the police. You can’t tell the police about them, or they’ll come for you. You can’t mention me at all. As far as the police need to know, you’ve been off fishing with Manny and Gus and didn’t know that anyone was looking for you right away. At least you’ll be safe from the cannibals, right?” Jim asked, acting like a long lost friend, even though it made him feel like throwing up.

“Thanks, man. I’ll go right to the police and I’ll be sure that Gus and Manny go too,” Travis said.

Jim went downstairs and told the same story to both Gus and Manny and got almost the same reply. Jim didn’t know if they would turn themselves in or not, but he did know one thing, Blair and his men were going to be looking for them and these idiots would freak out being followed.

Jim had to taser all three of the men and then took them downtown to a spot where the homeless people hung out and he dropped them all off there.

He pulled out his cell phone and called Blair. “You can find all three of the men you’re looking for at the Wayward Shelter, downtown. They’re in the alley in the back of the building. I’ll talk to you later on,” Jim said before he closed his cell.

Now he needed to get back to the building and get rid of everything just in case they ratted Jim out. There would be no proof, if he got rid of everything. Jim made three trips and cleaned out the storage units and put them back where they belonged. Before long, everything was done and Jim only had one thing left to do.

Jim had all of his paperwork and stopped by the new lawyer’s office. The lawyer was Bill Fallen. Jim liked him immediately and they got all of the paperwork filed and copies made for Jim’s safe at work and at home.

Now it was time to meet Blair some where and get him up to date. Jim knew he had to call Blair and asked him to meet him at Maria’s again. It was quiet there and very private. That’s what Jim needed.

~~~~~

Blair, Rafe and Brown couldn’t believe their luck on finding the men in the alley behind the homeless shelter. What was even better was the fact that they all confessed to the murders.

“Where have you been for the last week?” Blair asked.

Manny said, “We went fishing.”

“Fishing?” Rafe asked.

Gus said, “Yeah, you got a problem with that?”

“No, no problem,” Rafe answered.

“Why are you confessing to the crimes now, instead of last week?” Brown asked.

“We were high and forgot about it until now. Telling you everything is the right thing to do,” Travis said.

Blair asked, “Nobody threatened you or anything else to come in and confess?”

All three of the men said at once, “No.”

“Do you know who hired you to kill these men?” Brown inquired.

“The woman’s name is Carolyn and the man’s name is Mitch. That’s all we know. But if you showed us pictures we could help you,” Travis said.

“Rafe and Brown, let’s get this paperwork done, signed sealed and delivered to the DA,” Blair suggested.

They all worked very hard and had the men booked and in holding in record time. They then went and told Simon about the bust. Simon was thrilled. He couldn’t believe how fast his detectives had wrapped this up. The commissioner was going to be a very happy camper.

Blair was back at his desk when his cell phone rang.

“Can you meet me at Maria’s? Jim asked.

“Right now?” Blair replied.

“Yes, right now.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Blair said before he hung up.

Blair told Simon he had to leave for some loose ends on the case and Simon practically pushed him out the door.

~~~~~

Sitting at Maria’s was Jim looking lost and very sad. Blair walked up to him and said, “Hey, I have good news about the three men that were missing. They said they were fishing and they all confessed to the murders. Do you believe it?”

“Yeah, I do. Miracles do happen now and then,” Jim said.

Blair looked at the envelopes and said, “What is this?”

“This is in case something happens to me in the next few days. It’s my new will and you need a copy of it. You’re the executor. I left most of my money to Bailey and the kids, but I left some to you for charities of your choice. I don’t have any friends, so you were it. Now I feel better that I have it changed,” Jim handed over the letter with the will in it.

“Okay, what are in the other envelopes?” Blair asked.

Jim sighed and said, “It’s so sad that someone could hate anyone badly enough to kill their family off just so they would get the money from the will. Carolyn was named in my will to get everything and this is a recent picture of her. If you show those men, I know they’ll recognize her in an instant. She hired them to kill me. It was just dumb luck that I was out on a business call that night.”

Jim took a drink of his water and went on. “This is a picture of my lawyer for the company. His name is Mitchell Benson and if you show his picture to them, they’ll recognize him as well. They plotted together. They both hated me that much.”

“Jim, they didn’t hate you, they loved money. There is a difference. How did you know it was them?” Blair asked.

“I talked to the men until they told me just how it was. Once I got them talking it was easy as pie,” Jim said sadly.

“Do I have to arrest you for anything?” Blair asked.

“Did they tell you I did anything to them?” Jim replied.

“Quite the opposite. They said they were fishing,” Blair said smiling.

“Fishing? Sounds interesting,” Jim said.

“Jim, did you leave marks on them in any way?” Blair wondered aloud.

“I haven’t hurt anyone since the day my dad and my brother were killed. Does that tell you enough?” Jim answered.

“Okay, I’m going to believe you because I trust in you. If you say you didn’t hurt them, then you didn’t. They confessed so quickly that our paperwork is almost done. They are all booked and in jail awaiting their bail. Oh that’s another thing; they all said they didn’t want bail. Not that a judge in his right mind would give it to them, but don’t you find it odd that they are afraid to be out?”

“Not really, maybe they ran into something that they couldn’t handle,” Jim said.

“Jim, tell me what you threatened them with. Just tell me that much. It’ll stay between me and you,” Blair pleaded.

“I heard that cannibals were looking for them to feast on their body’s one piece at a time,” Jim said.

Blair burst out laughing and asked, “Cannibals?”

“Blair, think about it. Would you like to be held captive by Cannibals? They would take their time killing you so they would have fresh meat. Didn’t you watch Silence of the Lambs?”

“So you never had to hit them or threaten them with anything to get the information?” Blair inquired.

Jim smiled and said, “I’ll have you know that I took really good care of them. I fed them and gave them plenty to drink. I wouldn’t become what they were.”

“Jim, you tell anyone any of this, and your ass is grass, do you understand?”

“Yeah, I didn’t plan on even telling you, but you have a way with getting me to open up.”

“This is you opening up?” Blair teased.

“I’m very quiet and soft spoken, normally,” Jim joked back.

“So where do we go from here?” Blair asked.

“If you trust me enough, I would like to start dating you. I’d like to count this as one of the dates. It all depends on how much you trust in me,” Jim said.

“I was mad at you at first, but when I saw what good shape the men were in, I sort of got over it. But you have to promise me that you’ll never do anything like that again. Being a cop, I can’t have you doing shit that’s against the law. Do you understand?”

“I understand. I promise I’ll never do anything to cross you again,” Jim swore.

“I’d like to know if we’d be exclusive or not. That would tell me how serious you are in dating me,” Blair said.

“I want us to be exclusive. I don’t want anyone else in your life and no one in mine either. That’s the way it should be,” Jim said.

“I have an idea for you and me to work together sometimes,” Blair said.

“What are you talking about? I own a Security Company and a Private Investigation Company,” Jim teased.

“Sometimes we have cases where we just can’t get anywhere. I’d like to pull you in as a ride along and you can check out the places of interest and tell us if we missed anything. I think it would work because you’re with a Security Company and an investigator and you might need to find out more things to better your company. I would have to tell Simon Banks about your skills and I think he would go along with it, if it helped solve cases. What do you think?”

“I think it’s a great idea. Would he have to know about us being lovers?” Jim asked.

“No, that doesn’t have anything to do with work. That’s our business and no one else’s. So you think you could leave your company any time you wanted to?” Blair questioned.

“I already did. I rarely stayed in the office. If Carolyn would have done her homework, she would have known that and my family would still be alive,” Jim said sadly.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Jim. You haven’t really had the time to mourn. We’ll work on that some when I come over to the house.”

“How long do you think the trial will go on for my family’s murder?” Jim asked.

“At least six to ten months, I would think, unless they all cop a plea and we don’t have to go to trial. I’ll be with you every step of the way, so know that you won’t be alone, Jim.”

“I’m not really worried about it. I just know that when they see me testify, they might freak out and cause some trouble. I would hate to see all of everyone’s hard work go down the drain because of what I did,” Jim explained.

“Just look to the back of the room and they’ll think the cannibals are there,” Blair teased.

“That could work. They’re just about dumb enough to fall for it,” Jim agreed.

Blair thought about it and started to laugh even harder.

“Do you have any open cases that I could start working on right now?” Jim asked.

“I have a missing wife and mother that we really were hoping to bring to a close, but we can’t get anywhere with it. Would you like to give it a try?” Blair inquired.

“I’ll gladly start working on it right away, as soon as Simon Banks okay’s it. I need something to keep my mind busy until the trial. So when can you talk to him about me?” Jim asked.

“I’ll go and talk to him right now. I’ve got to get back to the office as soon as possible,” Blair stated.

“Can I give you a kiss goodbye?” Jim asked almost shyly.

Blair leaned across the table and puckered up. Jim went in slowly and sexily, just enough to drive Blair nuts. After the kiss, Blair pulled away and said, “You expect me to go to work now?”

Jim smiled and said, “You can have more kisses tonight at my place.”

“Dinner at your place at 7:00?” Blair asked.

“I’ll pick up some take out on the way home from my office,” Jim said.

“What are you doing at your office on the weekend?” Blair wondered aloud.

“I have to catch up with the cases that were left,” Jim answered sadly.

“How about if I ask Simon about ride along status for you and then we meet at your office and we’ll get things cleaned up together?”

“That would be great. You don’t know how much I was dreading all of that by myself. I’ll be at my office just catching up. Come whenever you can get away,” Jim said.

“I have to get back to work. I’ll talk to Simon and be back to you in record time. Actually it might be a few hours, is that all right? Be safe,” Blair said.

“I have a lot of work to do, so don’t worry about it. I’ll be safe. Thank you.”

~~~~~

Jim smiled all the way to his SUV and continued to do so as he flipped in his Santana CD. He found himself singing the entire way to his office. But once he got to the office, the smile vanished. He dreaded going in the building again. His co-workers had been so good about keeping the business going, but now it was time for Jim to step up to the plate. He had to run the business. It’s what his dad would have wanted.

Jim went up the elevator and went directly to his office, staying clear of William’s and Steven’s offices. He wasn’t ready yet. He sat down at his desk and saw the pile of folders and files waiting for his okay and decided he had better get things done. He went through and made notes to all of the office staff about everything and before long he was done with all of the files. They had six new clients. That was a good thing, but Jim was really glad that he had such good workers around him.

Jim went and made some coffee in the break room and saw his secretary sitting there. He smiled when he saw how busy she was and didn’t even notice what he was doing.

“Liz, what are you doing here on the weekend?” Jim asked watching how she jumped when he spoke.

“The work has to be done, Jim. I know you can’t do it yet, but I promised your dad years ago that I would take care of you. This is my way,” Liz said.

“Thank you, Liz, but I’m back now. I already finished all of my work on the desk, so if you want to, we can go over it now,” Jim suggested.

Liz stood up and hugged Jim. “I’m so glad you’re back, Jim. We all missed you.”

“Come on, we’ll go get caught up on phone calls if you’re not too busy,” Jim said.

“Perfect, I have one client who won’t talk to anyone but you,” Liz replied.

The two of them walked side by side and Jim went into his office to get things started. She brought in her pad and sat down and said, “We have a bunch of meetings to set up, so if you’re up to it, let’s get this started.”

For the next three hours Jim was busy on the phone with clients and Liz was busy making calls and typing up reports for Jim to sign. Jim finally walked out of his office and said, “Let me walk you to your car.”

“You are such a good man. Thank you, Jim. I’m ready now.”

Jim and Liz went down the elevator and when it opened, Mitchell Benson was standing there with a gun.

“Benson, what do you want?” Jim asked.

“I’m going to do the fucking job right. Now move back and let’s go back upstairs,” Benson said as he pushed his gun into Liz’s ribs.

Jim went along with it for the time being. But he was tired of this shit and was going to end it.

They walked into Jim’s office and Benson said, “Those idiots couldn’t get anything right and now they’re talking to the police about us. This ends now.” Benson raised the gun and Jim stood in front of Liz and slugged Benson in the throat, causing the gun to go off and hit Jim in the shoulder. Jim could tell by the way Mitch fell that he wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon.

Liz took off her jacket and pushed it into Jim’s wound. She then called 911 and asked for an ambulance. Then Jim asked her to call Blair for him and tell him to get there soon. She did just that and it wasn’t long before the EMT personnel showed up, followed by Blair, Rafe and Brown. The EMTs started working on Benson first because he was hardly breathing. Blair asked what had happened and Liz filled him in on what went down. Jim started to slip into shock, but Blair yelled at the EMT guys until they started to pay attention to Jim for a change. They got Jim ready for transport and did the same thing with Benson. He was in bad shape.

Blair leaned down and whispered, “Didn’t I ask you to be careful?”

Jim said, “I was careful. I’m alive and so is Liz.”

Liz said, “Should I ride up with you, Jim?”

Jim looked at Blair and Blair said, “No, I’ll ride up with him. Thank you, Liz. We’ll talk to you after he gets out of the emergency room.”

Jim handed the office keys to Rafe and asked him to lock up for him. Blair found that comforting to know he was with it enough to worry about the business.

In the ambulance, Blair held Jim’s hand the entire way. The EMTs didn’t even try and argue with Blair.

“Hey, Jim, Simon agreed to have you come as a ride along three times a week. I told him all about you and he’s anxious to talk to you about it too. He thinks you might be able to help us in certain cases, so get ready to be working two full time jobs,” Blair teased.

Jim smiled under the oxygen mask and this made him look all the cuter. But then again, Blair found him cute no matter what.

“When they got to the ER, Blair had to wait out in the waiting room like everyone else until the doctor called him back. He was pacing when Rafe, Brown and Simon walked in.

“What’s wrong?” Blair asked.

Simon smiled and said, “Nothing is wrong, we thought you might need some moral support, so we’re here to give you back up.”

“Thank you, Simon,” Blair commented.

“Hey, do you not see us here too?” Brown asked laughing.

“Yes, I do. I’m sorry, guys. I’m a little off my game. Thank you for being up here for me,” Blair stated.

At that moment a doctor came out and said, “Blair Sandburg?”

Blair jumped up, followed by Simon, Rafe and Brown and they followed the doctor into a little room with x-rays up on the wall.

“Do we need all of these people in here?” The doctor asked.

“Hey doc, we’re all cops and we’re here for Jim Ellison, so let’s cut to the chase,” Blair snapped.

“Mr. Ellison didn’t tell me that you were cops,” The doctor said.

“It shouldn’t make a difference. Now what’s going on with Jim?” Blair asked.

“The bullet went straight through his shoulder, tearing very little tissue on its way out. So we didn’t have to do surgery or anything. He’s going to be able to go home tomorrow.”

“That’s great news. What is your name, doctor?” Simon asked.

“Doctor Spenser, and if you need anything just have them page me. Mr. Ellison will be going up to his room in about ten minutes. He’s going to be on the second floor, not sure what room yet. You can wait upstairs in the waiting room. Good luck with finding who did this,” Doctor Spenser said.

“We have him, you’re treating him here for a throat injury,” Brown said.

“Oh yes, we have him in hand cuffs, which is mighty unusual for this type of injury, but I guess if he shot someone, you have to be careful.”

All of the men looked at each other as to almost say, DUH. But instead they just smiled and walked down the hallway.

~~~~~

Jim was getting into the bed in the room on the second floor and he wasn’t a happy camper at all.

“The doctor wants you to have some pain medication right away and that will help you sleep,” Nurse Wilma Matthews said.

“Wilma, I can’t take pain meds because they make me sick,” Jim stated stubbornly.

Blair walked in and said, “Trouble with meds before Jim?”

“Yeah, sicker then a dog. I’d rather not have any to start with and not worry about it,” Jim explained.

“Do you remember which ones they were?” Blair asked patiently.

“Vicodin so I’m not taking it again,” Jim said angrily.

“Are you trying to give him Vicodin?” Blair asked.

“Yes, but he doesn’t remember everything from two years ago, it might have been the flu,” Wilma said.

“Wilma, I’m going to tell you this once and once only. He’s not to have Vicodin at all while he’s here. Maybe we could try him on something lesser like Motrin or something like that. Something easier for his stomach to take,” Blair suggested.

“Of course I have to talk to the doctor about it, but he’s going to be the one hurting, so I don’t want to hear about it when it happens,” Wilma said before she rushed out of the room.

Blair looked at Jim and said, “I can help you turn down your dials so that the pain will be bearable. Wait and see.”

“Already did it, Chief. I follow orders very well.”

“Chief?”

“Yes, I like that for a nickname for you. Are you going to stay up here tonight or just for a little while?” Jim asked.

“Since I got a nickname, I guess I could stay a while.”

Jim smiled and started to fall asleep.

Blair sat down in the chair next to Jim’s bed and took Jim’s hand into his and held on for dear life.

Simon, Brown and Rafe walked in and Rafe said, “We’re not interrupting are we?”

Blair snickered and said, “He’s resting, so I’m going to stay here for a while. Do you need something?”

Jim opened his eyes and said, “Simon, it’s good to see you. Brown and Rafe, I’m a little surprised to see you.”

“Jim, we need to talk to you about your ex-wife. We can’t find her anywhere. We know she was behind it. We’ve got a confession from Benson downstairs, so we’re off to see if we can’t find her. She’s not at home, she’s not at her parents house and she’s not with her sisters. Do you have any idea where she might be?” Simon asked.

Jim thought for a moment and said, “Check my house. You would never look there. She’s probably waiting for me. She must really hate me.”

Rafe said, “Thanks, can we have a key to your place and sneak up on her?”

Jim said, “Blair, my keys are with my things. Could you get it for them? But I’m not sure that’s where she is. I’m just guessing, if you wanted your ex-husband dead and it all went bad, where would you wait for him? Right?”

Blair got up and got Jim’s keys and handed them to Rafe. “Bring them back because he gets out first thing tomorrow and he has to be able to get back into his house again.”

Blair walked over to the bed and said, “I’m thinking I should go get your clothes for tomorrow. Do you want me to?”

“I’d rather have you stay here for now. We can get my things tomorrow, can’t we?” Jim asked hoping that Blair would stay.

“You talked me into it. I’ll see you guys later. Come back and tell us what happened,” Blair ordered.

“Yes, sir,” Simon snickered.

They all looked over at the quiet Jim Ellison and found him sleeping.

Simon smiled and said, “Take good care of him, kid.”

“How many times have I asked you not to call me kid?” Blair inquired.

“Who cares,” Simon answered and walked out the door.

Blair laughed to himself and sat down with Jim again. He leaned into the bed rail and closed his eyes.

~~~~~

“Well, Jim Ellison doesn’t know everything. I thought for sure his wife would be here. Where else could she be. She hasn’t used a charge card or debit card since yesterday, so what does that leave?” Brown asked.

There were seven cops there and they all were looking through Jim’s house making sure that Carolyn wasn’t hiding somewhere waiting to get him when he least expected it.

Simon looked around the room and said, “Rafe, why don’t you take the keys back up to him and tell Blair to take the day off tomorrow.”

Brown asked, “Is anyone else a little shocked about Ellison and Sandburg?”

Simon smiled. “Nah, I saw it coming a mile away. Blair gets that look in his eye when he wants something or someone and he had it when he met Jim Ellison.”

Rafe said, “I was surprised, I didn’t know he swung that way. Not that I care, but someone else might. We have to watch out for him now.”

Simon agreed, “Indeed. If you hear or see anything out of the ordinary, let me know.”

“We’ll always take care of our own,” Brown said.

“He’s lucky to have you guys as partners. Watch out for him and keep me apprised of anything going on,” Simon ordered.

Rafe got ready to leave and said, “I’ll be up at the hospital if anyone needs to know.”

“See you soon, partner,” Brown said as Rafe walked out the door.

~~~~~

Jim woke up with quite a bit of pain in his shoulder and saw Blair sleeping against the bed rail and smiled. The pain was gone instantly. Blair was really good for him and he was glad they were together. He heard another heartbeat in the room and squinted into the dark room to see who it was and was sorry he didn’t think of this sooner. Carolyn was standing back in the shadow of the doorway.

“Carolyn, they know you and Benson did it, why are you here?” Jim asked quietly, trying not to wake Blair up, but it was too late. Blair was alert, right away.

She walked into the room where they could see her better and she was holding a gun.

“What the fuck is going on with everyone having guns? Carolyn since when do you own a gun?” Jim asked.

“Since you divorced me and wouldn’t give me the child I wanted. You always thought of no one but yourself. You’re a selfish prick, Jimmy. I don’t intend on missing like Benson did. If my life is ruined, so will yours be.”

Blair stood up and said, “I don’t think we’ve met, Carolyn. Did you know about Jim and me?”

“Did I know what?” Carolyn asked.

Jim looked at him like he was nuts. Why bring that up now?

“We’re lovers, Carolyn, so that’s why he could never make you happy. You didn’t have the right equipment,” Blair said.

“Jimmy, is this true? You’re fucking gay now?” Carolyn was shocked.

“Yes, its true, Carolyn. I don’t like women like I do men,” Jim admitted.

“You don’t like men, you just like me,” Blair corrected Jim.

“Oh my god, you are a couple. All along, you were dating men?” Carolyn asked sounding more upset by the minute.

“I never dated men while we were together, Carolyn. I wouldn’t have done that to you.”

"Oh God, I've made such a mess of things. I didn't mean for your father and brother to die, I wanted to hurt you for not loving me. I'm sorry."

Jim sat up straighter in his bed and said, “You don’t get to be sorry for that Carolyn. You took away everything that meant the world to me. For what? Money? Revenge? What?”

“I guess it would have been revenge, Jimmy. I really am sorry.” Carolyn started to leave the room and Blair grabbed the gun and shoved her into the bed next to Jim’s. He pulled his cuffs out and slapped them around her wrists. Then he read her, her rights.

“You fucking fag. I’m going to tell everyone at the station that you fuck fags,” Carolyn spat out at Blair.

“Guess what Carolyn?” Blair asked.

“What?” Carolyn said.

“We don’t care,” Blair started to push her towards the open door and Rafe walked in and said, “Wow, I miss everything good.”

He took hold of Carolyn and said, “I’ll take her to the station and begin questioning her. You just stay here and rest with Jim. Oh, Simon said you have the day off tomorrow.” Rafe set Jim’s keys on his table next to the bed.

“That’s great and everything, but I made the arrest, I’ll be down in about an hour. Jim will be able to sleep better knowing where she is.” Blair said.

“See you in an hour. Bye, Jim,” Rafe said as he walked out of the room.

“Do you have to leave?” Jim asked pitifully.

“Yes, Jim, I have to leave. She’s my collar, I need to question her. I’ll be back in the morning with your clean clothes. Once you’re home we can relax and enjoy each other’s company. For right now, I’ve got work to do,” Blair leaned down over the bed and kissed Jim’s dry lips.

"Drink some of this water, man. You’re lips are really dry. I want them soft when I get back. Good night, babe,” Blair said leaving the room.

Jim smiled as he watched his soon-to-be-lover leave the room. The next thing he knew, he was sound asleep and didn’t hear a thing going on.

~~~~~

When Blair got to the station house, he and Simon went in to question Carolyn.

“I don’t want a fag questioning me,” Carolyn said.

“That’s too bad, he’s the one that arrested you, so he’s the one that is going to question you,” Simon barked.

Blair read her the Miranda again and then asked her if she wanted a lawyer.

“Yes, I want Mitch Benson. He’s going to be my lawyer,” Carolyn said.

“You’ll have to get another one, Ms. Plummer. He’s busy at the moment,” Blair got up and left the room.

“Did you know that he’s sleeping with my husband?” Carolyn spat out.

“Doesn’t’ make any difference to me,” Simon assured her, “and that would be your ex-husband.”

“It might to the jury when I tell them about the two of them. Things might not go exactly as you planned then,” Carolyn said.

Blair walked in with a list of lawyers and numbers that Carolyn could call.

“Now, Carolyn if you don’t mind, can I tell you a few things?” Blair started.

“Go ahead, but I’m not answering any questions from a fag,” she spat.

“First of all, we don’t need a signed confession from you because we have the three men confessing as we speak that you paid to murder your father-in-law and brother-in-law. You can sit there until trial starts, but if I were you, I would make a deal so you don’t get the death penalty,” Blair advised.

Carolyn looked around and wondered who she could ask about this.

Blair softly spoke when he said, “Your goose is cooked and I suggest you call one of those lawyers.”

“Fine, I’ll take the deal,” Carolyn said hatefully.

Simon said, “You don’t even know what the deal is yet.”

The DA came in and made a deal with Carolyn and she would do 25 years, with 20 served. Blair wasn’t happy with it, but he knew he didn’t have much say in it. The three men copped a plea and they were each getting 35 years. Jim wasn’t going to have to deal with a trial. This was a good day.

Blair finished up all of the paperwork and then ran to Jim’s house to get Jim’s clothes for the morning. Then Blair rushed home to take a long hot shower and rest for two hours before he went up to the hospital.

~~~~~

When Blair got there the next morning, Jim was sitting up in bed eating some type of cereal on his tray.

“Good morning,” Blair said entering the room.

“How did it go?” Jim asked nervously.

“There’s going to be no trial. Everyone plea bargained and will do prison time and have parole probation too. I figured you would be happy to know that there would be no trial to have to deal with,” Blair explained.

“I can’t wait to tell Bailey. She was worried about the trial all along. This will make her rest easier,” Jim said.

Blair knew that it would be good for all of them.

“Are those my clean clothes?” Jim asked eyeing the gym bag.

“Why yes, they are. Is someone antsy to get out of here?”

“They woke me up every two hours to see if I was feeling all right. I’m exhausted. I kept telling them, No, I don’t feel all right, you keep waking me up,” Jim belly ached and then smiled.

“Can you take a shower?” Blair asked.

“I can now. I told them I had to wait for you to take one with me. They didn’t know what to say to that, so they just left the room,” Jim kidded.

“Whoa, we get to take a shower together?”

“Let me finish this banana and then we’ll jump in, how does that sound?” Jim asked.

Blair took the bag into the bathroom and made sure there were enough towels for both of them and then came out to help Jim get up from bed, but he was too late. Jim was already almost to the door of the bathroom.

“Wow, you’re getting around really well. I’m so glad,” Blair stated.

“It helps that I don’t have to walk on my shoulder,” Jim teased.

“Get your butt in the shower,” Blair ordered.

Jim went into the room and Blair shut and locked the door. He stripped Jim very quickly and took the dressing off to get ready for the new dressing.

Blair stood back and took in the sight before his eyes. “Whoa, baby, I like what I see.”

Blair saw Jim get hard instantly. Blair pushed him into the shower and Blair stripped and got in with Jim. Before long Jim was all clean and Blair got them out to dry off and get the fresh bandage put on.

Blair noticed that poor Jim was still hard and Blair said, “Would you like a blow job?”

“Shit yeah,” Jim answered.

Blair made Jim sit on the stool in the bathroom and he went to work with his wicked tongue and lips. He had been told once that he gave great blow jobs and he might because Jim was almost there already. Blair sucked a few more times and Jim came with a quiet groan.

Jim looked down and said, “Want me to do something about that?”

“No, I’m going to wait until we’re home and you’re 100%. Right now I would feel like I might hurt you and I’d never forgive myself to have hurt you in any way,” Blair explained.

Both men came out of the bathroom completely dressed and the nurse gave them an evil glare.

Blair leaned into Jim and whispered, “She’s just jealous that we didn’t invite her.”

Jim burst out laughing making the nurse mad for some reason.

They waited for the doctor to come in and write his orders for Jim. Once he had the discharge papers, they were ‘so’ out of there.

Driving home Blair asked, “Jim, how would you feel about me moving in with you while you recover?”

“I would love that. You could sleep with me and everything. I might be able to sleep all night long too,” Jim said happily.

“Once I get you settled at the loft, I’ll run home and pick up my clothes and things and come back over.”

The rest of the ride, they talked about how nice it would be to be in each other’s company.

~~~~~

Jim was sleeping in his bed when he heard Blair come back to the loft with his things. Jim heard Blair make more then one trip, which cracked Jim up. It sounded like Blair had brought enough for a month.

Jim walked down the stairs and Blair came through the door for the fourth time. “Oh man, did I wake you up?”

“No, I was rested. Welcome to my home,” Jim said as he pulled Blair in for a quick kiss.

Blair pulled out of his embrace and said, “The doctor said nothing strenuous for one week at least, so keep your distance.”

Jim laughed and said, “It was just a kiss, you nut.”

“I know where those kisses lead, big guy. So let’s keep this non-physical for a week at least.”

“Okay, we’ll do what you say. What should we do for dinner?” Jim asked.

“I thought I would make stir fry. I brought all of the makings for it. Does that sound good to you?” Blair asked.

“You’re going to cook for me too?” Jim asked incredulously.

“You betcha. I’m going to make you want me to never leave,” Blair teased.

“In that case, I’m already there,” Jim admitted.

Blair smiled and said, “Can I ask you something serious now?”

“Sure,” Jim replied.

“When do you think you could go with me to ask questions about the missing wife?”

“We could go tomorrow. It’s not strenuous, so why not?” Jim remarked. “Do you have any thoughts about anyone at all?”

“No, I don’t get anything from the husband or anyone else. We’re at a deadlock and we have to find her dead or alive,” Blair explained.

“We’ll go in the morning. Call everyone into the office and tell them there is an investigator looking into it and they need to answer his questions. I do have my license,” Jim said.

“I’ll call and set it up right now, so we have that taken care of. Thank you, Jim.”

“You are most welcome. Chances are, I won’t get anything from them that you didn’t,” Jim assured him.

“You can listen to see if anyone breathes differently when you ask the questions or if their heartbeats speed up. Things like that wouldn’t be noticed by us mere humans,” Blair teased.

“Are you making fun of my abilities?”

“Not even. I’m glad to have you on my side. Maybe we’ll get a lead from this meeting. I’d really like to find her,” Blair admitted.

“Then by all means, let’s do it right. Make up a list of questions you want me to ask tomorrow and I’ll take it from there.”

“I’ll make up the list of questions tonight after dinner,” Blair agreed.

“I’m going to sit down for a little while. I’m tired all of a sudden,” Jim said.

“Lay on the sofa while I make dinner. I’ll wake you up when everything is done,” Blair stated.

“Thank you for everything, Blair.”

“You are most welcome. Now rest. I’ve got things to do.”

~~~~~

Jim woke to a wonderful smell in the loft. He smelled like he was in a Chinese restaurant. He sat up and could see Blair with his hair pulled back, singing a soft song while he finished up dinner. Blair always looked sexy, but for some reason he looked sexier then he ever had that night.

Blair looked over and noticed Jim watching him and smiled. “Dinner is done if you want to get up and eat.”

Jim walked into the kitchen and kissed Blair softly. “Thank you for everything. The loft smells wonderful, dinner looks great and I’m starving. This is perfect.”

Jim and Blair both washed up for dinner and sat down at the table that Blair had set up. They ate almost in silence because Jim was starving and was eating non-stop. Blair kept smiling at him as he watched him eating and drinking the fresh lemonade that Blair made to go along with it.

“So, tell me what you think of it,” Blair finally said.

“I think this is the best food I’ve ever tasted in my life. You are one hell of a great cook. Thank you, I was starving,” Jim admitted freely.

“I made key lime pie for dessert. I hope you like that,” Blair said.

“I love anything you would make.”

“Not so quick, I might make something tomorrow you totally hate,” Blair commented.

“I don’t think you could make anything that I wouldn’t like. I hate to mention this during dinner, but I think I’m falling in love with you,” Jim confessed.

Blair beamed with happiness and said, “That makes two of us. I was hoping it wasn’t too soon.”

“It would never be too soon with you. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. I just wish my dad could have met you,” Jim said sadly.

“I feel like I do know him, because he raised you and you’re one of the kindest, most gentle men I’ve ever met. That says a lot about your dad.”

“Thank you, Blair.”

“You’re welcome, Jim.”

Jim helped Blair do the dishes and they then retired into the living room to watch some television. Jim started to fall asleep twice, so Blair said, “Let’s take this upstairs for the night. Do you have a television up there?”

“No, sorry about that,” Jim said.

“I’ll read to you until you fall asleep. How does that sound?” Blair asked.

“Like a million bucks.”

Both men got ready for bed and made their way upstairs. Once Jim was snug in bed, Blair started to read some poetry from a book Jim had on his night stand.

Jim was asleep within minutes and then Blair turned the light off and curled into Jim’s body for the night.

~~~~~

When Jim woke up the next morning, Blair was already up making breakfast. Jim liked being waited on.

He walked down the stairs and Blair said, “Good morning. I want you to have a quick shower, then I’ll change the dressing and you’ll have your breakfast and then we’ll head down town.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jim answered and went to take his shower. He had wanted Blair to take one with him, but Blair was making him food. Jim’s stomach won out.

Once everything was done, they drove downtown to ask the questions.

~~~~~

Jim was sitting in the conference room looking at the questions that he planned on asking the family members.

Blair came walking in with two men. Blair introduced the men.

“Jim, this is Mike Marshall and his brother Matt Marshall. Mike is the man that has the missing wife I told you about. This is the investigator I told you about, Jim Ellison.”

They both sat down after shaking Jim’s hand and he watched all of them closely. The only one that seemed nervous was the brother Matt. But he might just be a nervous person, so Jim wasn’t going to hold that against him.

“I have some questions to ask all of you, so I’ll start with you, Mike. When did you last see your wife?”

Mike answered all of Jim’s questions and seemed nothing but upset. Jim felt like the man was telling the truth. He then went to the brother, Matt and began to ask him questions. That’s when things started getting weird. Jim could hear a heartbeat almost pounding out of someone’s chest and he was fairly sure it was Matt’s. Every time he asked a question, the man became more nervous. Maybe not to Blair or anyone else, but he did to Jim.

Jim finished his questions and felt like he knew that Matt knew something more then he was telling them.

“Could I speak with Matt alone?” Jim asked.

Blair got up to show Mike out, although Mike didn’t want to leave, Blair had to practically push him out.

Blair sat down and said, “You have some questions to ask Matt alone?”

“Yes, I didn’t think he wanted his brother to hear his answers. Am I right, Matt?” Jim asked.

“I’m not sure of what you’re talking about,” Matt answered.

“How long have you had a thing for Maggie?” Jim questioned.

“How did you know that? What are you, some sort of psychic?” Matt asked.

“I’m no psychic, I just saw a man terribly nervous about simple questions and that leads me to wonder what else you lied about,” Jim said.

“Big deal, I had a thing for my sister-in-law. She wouldn’t have a thing to do with me, so it was forgotten. No harm done,” Matt replied.

“Then why are you so nervous?” Blair asked.

“I just don’t know why you would be questioning me instead of someone that actually killed her,” Matt shouted.

“Sir, we don’t know that she’s dead. Do you know that she is?” Jim asked.

“You’re confusing me.” The man got up and began to pace.

“It all started out so innocently that it probably went bad before you even knew what you were doing, am I right?” Blair asked, hoping he was reading Jim right.

“She was tempting me,” Matt screamed.

“Calm down and tell us exactly what happened,” Jim said softly.

“She kept coming over to the house for no reason, just to visit or see if I was doing all right and I knew she wanted me. It was plain as day. So when I came on to her and she slapped me, I was taken off guard. I hit her and she fell and hit her head on the coffee table. So I put her in the trunk of her car and drove her car down to the river and dumped the car there. She had it coming. She was tempting me. It was all her fault,” Matt said.

Blair got up and read Matt his rights and asked if he wanted a lawyer and he said, “I don’t have anyone to pay for it for me. My brother probably won’t do it now.”

Jim rolled his eyes when he heard that and realized that this man might not be playing with a full deck.

Blair explained that the lawyer would be appointed for him from the State and he said, “No, I just want it to be over with. I’m tired of my brother yelling at me because his wife is gone. I think he knew all along.”

Blair handcuffed him and led him out of the room. Mike just stood there in shock.

Jim asked him to come back into the room and wait for Detective Sandburg. He sat down and felt like crying. Mike Marshall was lost and sad and Jim felt bad for him. Jim felt like Blair needed to tell them the news.

Blair came walking into the room and told Mike what happened. Mike said, “Let him rot in prison, for all I care.”

Blair asked, “Have you ever noticed that your brother seemed a little off?”

Mike answered, “My sister has always said he was off, but we never dreamed he would hurt my wife or we would have said something sooner. I can’t believe this is happening.”

Blair frowned and said, “You knew all along that he wasn’t all there?”

Mike said, “He’s been slow all of his life. That’s why my wife was spending so much time with him. She wanted him to learn to read. She loved him in her own way and only wanted to help. She was such a good person. God, what do we do now?”

Jim got up and left the room. Blair figured it was too much for him to handle right then.

Blair handed a card to Mike for a psychologist to see. He figured Dr. Henry might be able to help this family through this.

“I need to go and talk to the DA about your brother being slow and not knowing how to read. It might make a big difference. He might not have to go to prison, but instead go to a mental facility,” Blair explained.

“It doesn’t matter. I won’t see him again,” Mike said sadly. “Did he tell you where he put the body?”

“Yes, we know. We’ll take care of it, Mike. Don’t you worry about a thing and it was an accident after all, so you might want to forgive him later,” Blair said.

“Never. My children have to grow up without a mother just because he was insane,” Mike said as he got up.

Blair didn’t have anything to say. After all, the man was right. It was a sad day for all of them.

~~~~~

Jim was waiting at Blair’s desk when Blair came walking through about an hour later.

“Jesus, you must be exhausted. Would you like a ride home? I can come back and do the paper work later on.”

“Chief, I’m fine. Just go ahead and work and I’ll talk with Brown and Rafe if they’re not doing anything,” Jim said.

“No one should have to talk to Brown and Rafe on purpose,” Blair teased, “give me a few moments and I’ll be with you and we can go home.”

Blair took what paperwork he had done into Simon’s office and talked with Simon for a short time and then walked out looking irritated.

“It seems, I have to do something weird, like my job or something. So let me send you home in a cab and I’ll meet you there when I’m done with the paperwork,” Blair said picking up the phone to call a cab.

“Blair, I think I can get my own cab. I’ll see you at home,” Jim said angrily and walked out of the bullpen.

Blair sighed because there wasn’t much else he could do about the situation. He had work to take care of, if Jim didn’t understand that, then they had more problems then Blair cared to think about. Blair wondered if Jim was mad about him having to work, or because he had coddled him in front of everyone. All things he would have to think about.

~~~~~

Jim wondered on the way home what Blair was thinking of treating him like a child in the bullpen. Jim was capable of taking care of himself and didn’t need a keeper. Is that the only reason Blair was with Jim? Did he feel sorry for him? These were all things that Jim had on his mind for the rest of the drive.

When he got to the loft, he stripped and took a shower. He felt sweaty and dirty and he wasn’t quite sure why. Did Blair really have feelings for him, or was it pity? Jim knew he was going to have to find out.

~~~~~

Blair took longer then he expected at the station house. It was ten that night when he pulled up in front of the loft. All of the lights were off and he wondered what he should do. He didn’t have a key to Jim’s place, Jim hadn’t given him one so was he going to wake the sleeping man up or go to his house to sleep? He decided he would just call out to Jim and see if he came to the balcony.

“Jim, I know you can hear me even though I’m not talking loud. Do you want me to stay here tonight or do you want me to leave you alone? I don’t have a key,” Blair said softly into the night air.

Before long Jim opened up the balcony door and walked out. He smiled down at Blair and said, “Come on up.”

Blair gladly went for the front door and rushed up the elevator. When he got to Jim’s door, Jim opened it before he had a chance to knock. Naturally.

Jim pulled Blair into his arms and said, “I was afraid you weren’t coming home tonight.”

Blair liked the sound of it being called home. “I wanted to see you, man. First of all, I’m sorry for treating you like a child today. I don’t know what I was doing. But it won’t happen again. I acted like you’re hurt and you can’t take care of yourself. I truly am sorry, Jim.”

“Why don’t you grab a shower and join me in bed?” Jim suggested.

“You got it,” Blair answered as he practically flew into the bathroom and got undressed and in the shower.

Jim walked up the stairs and got into bed. He was exhausted, but he wanted to be awake when Blair got up there. It was the least he could do. Too bad his poor body wasn’t listening to his brain. He fell asleep rather quickly after getting into the bed.

Blair shut off all of the lights and climbed the stairs and smiled when he saw a sleeping Jim on the bed. Blair wouldn’t feel guilty about going right to sleep now. He was exhausted too. Thankfully he had the next day off, so they could just sleep in.

Blair curled into Jim’s body and fell asleep almost instantly.

~~~~~

Blair woke up to Jim stroking his semi-hard cock slowly. “Jim, the doctor said to take it easy for a week at least.”

“I am taking it easy. I’m stroking very slowly and softly,” Jim replied.

Blair leaned back into Jim’s body and could feel Jim’s very erect cock and just closed his eyes. He was really getting into it when Jim said, “Blair, would you ride me.”

“You mean you want me to sit on your dick?” Blair teased.

“Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

Blair opened up the drawer next to the bed and pulled out the astroglide and a condom. He began to stretch himself for Jim and Jim was licking his lips watching Blair do this. Once he was loose enough, he slid the condom on Jim’s very hard cock and lowered himself down on top of it.

“Oh god, Blair, you feel so damn good,” Jim said panting.

“Are you still feeling all right?” Blair asked quickly before he got too into it.

“I love every single moment of it. Fuck me harder, babe.”

Blair didn’t need to be told twice, he began to lower himself harder and lift up quickly and down once more, over and over again.

Jim was breathing like a freight train and Blair once again wondered if it was hurting him, but suddenly Blair didn’t really care because he was having a good time too. He could tell Jim was enjoying the hell out of it.

Before long Blair felt Jim getting ready to come, so he sped his pace up quite a bit and Jim threw back his head and moaned, ‘Blair’ into the room. Blair followed right behind him and did the same thing. He moaned, ‘Jim’ and hoped that they could do this again soon, very soon.

Jim started falling asleep and Blair took a moment to clean Jim off and then cuddled with him. Who would have thought that Jim Ellison would give great cuddle?

Blair fell back to sleep too and at noon they both got up for a shower.

~~~~~

While Blair was dressing he was thinking about him and Jim. Did they move things too quickly? Or were they like fated to meet? Blair was a big believer in fate, karma and kismet. He chose to believe that he met Jim for a reason and they were moving at just the right speed.

Jim came around the corner and said, “Thinking we might have moved this too fast?”

“What? You read minds now?” Blair teased.

“I was thinking the very same thing and the look on your face matched the way I felt. But I think that we’re doing everything just right. I truly believe that we’re meant to be together,” Jim said.

“I told myself the very same thing, but fate, karma and kismet were in my thoughts.”

Jim laughed and said, “You little hippy you,”

“What would you like to do today?” Blair asked.

“I need to go and pick out the gravestones for my dad and Steven. Would you like to come with me?” Jim inquired.

“I would love to, but maybe it’s something that Bailey would like to do with you,” Blair suggested.

“We could all do it together. Let me call Bailey right now.” Jim picked up his cell and called his sister-in-law.

“Hello?” Bailey answered.

“Bailey, I was thinking about picking the stones out for Steven and dad today and wondered if you want to meet me there and help,” Jim said.

“I would love to meet you for lunch somewhere, but I’ll leave the stones up to you if you don’t mind,” Bailey replied.

“That’s fine. How about dinner at Red Lobster at 6:00. I’m going to have Blair Sandburg with me, if that’s all right,” Jim asked in a round about way.

“Oh Jim, I’m so glad that you got together with him. I could see the attraction early on and hoped you wouldn’t let anything that happened stop it. I would love to meet the two of you for dinner. Can I bring the kids?”

“Of course you can bring the kids. I would like to have them this weekend if you’re up for some time alone,” Jim said.

“It’s too soon after the gun shot wound. Maybe in a couple of weeks,” Bailey remarked.

“Then it’s a date. In the mean time we’ll see you at six,” Jim said.

“Captain Banks came over today and told me how the case turned out. He went to tell Rose, but Rose wouldn’t talk to him. He asked me to talk to her, but she won’t see me either. What about you?” Bailey asked.

“She’s mad at me for being alive while dad is dead. It’s not fair in her book. Hell, it’s not fair in my book either. At any rate, I doubt that she would talk to me. I’ll call her and ask her to dinner. Maybe she’ll surprise us all,” Jim replied.

“See you soon, Jim. Good luck with Rose,” Bailey said before she hung up the phone.

Jim got off the phone and said, “Do you mind if I invite Rose to dinner?”

Blair smiled and said, “You could invite anyone you wanted as long as you’re there, I don’t care.”

“She wouldn’t talk to Simon Banks about the case. She won’t talk to Bailey either. I’m hoping I can get through to her, but I doubt it.”

“Call her right now and ask her to meet us. Leave it up to her and we’ll go from there,” Blair suggested.

Jim called Rose and Rose didn’t answer so he left a message telling her where they would be and when and hoped that she would meet them all for dinner. He told her how much he missed her and then said, ‘I love you’ and hung up.

~~~~~

Rose sat at her house crying as she listened to the message over and over again. She knew that she couldn’t go and meet them. Every time she was around all of them, it reminded her of what she had lost. Instead she got up the nerve and called Jim.

“Ellison,” Jim answered.

“Jim,” I want you to have your dad’s house. I left the paperwork with my lawyer and he’ll be contacting you. I just can’t live there. He left me all of that money, but I have no one to spend it on. I’m sorry that I don’t want to be around all of you, but I’m just not ready. I don’t know that I ever will be.”

“That’s fine, Rose. I would love to have dad’s house. I can pay you for it, I don’t expect you to give it to me,” Jim said.

“No, I have enough Ellison money. I want you to have it. I’ve already moved out, so it’s all yours. The key is at the lawyers. Please enjoy it and have a good life.”

“Rose, I really wish you’d let us be in your life. The children thought of you as Gramma and I wanted them to still have that. Don’t you want that anymore?” Jim asked.

“It hurts too much, Jim. Have a good life. Tell Bailey I wish her well,” Rose said and hung up.

~~~~~

Jim put the phone down and looked lost. Blair came up and said, “She doesn’t want to see you?”

“She doesn’t want to be in our lives ever again. She said it hurts too much. Oh and she gave the house to me. So we’re going to be moving if you don’t mind. My dad has a lovely house with gorgeous furniture. How would you like to move in with me?” Jim questioned.

“You know what? I would like to move in with you. I think we might be jumping the gun, but we’ll try it and see how it goes. No matter what, Jim, we have to remember that we’ll always be friends first.”

Jim hugged him close to him and said, “Let’s go get the stones out of the way. Thank you for being in my life. You’ve made it much easier.

They left for the day and the evening and Blair felt like he belonged with Jim. This was a good feeling.

~~~~~

The dinner with Bailey and the kids went very well. Kevin and Lily were thrilled to see Jim and Blair both. Lily had a little crush on Blair. Bailey and Jim thought it was precious.

“We’re going to be moving into dad’s house, so the kids won’t have to go without seeing it from now on. I hope that you’ll come and see us every week. Would you like to set up a day for coming for dinner?” Jim asked.

“I think that Sunday’s would be a lovely day, because that was our day with dad. If you don’t mind, we’ll continue to come on Sundays as we used to,” Bailey said.

Jim smiled and then kissed Bailey on the cheek. “Thank you for accepting me and Blair as a couple.”

Kevin said, “A couple of what?”

All of the adults started laughing and the evening went on with laughter and good food. Only a few times did Jim get sad missing his brother and his dad. And he noticed that Bailey did too.

When they were all out in the parking lot getting ready to go home, Lily started crying saying she wanted to go with Uncle Jim. Jim secretly loved it. Blair just beamed.

Bailey said, “She misses her dad.”

“Bailey, they can come over whenever they want. I mean as long as we’re there, they can be there too,” Jim said.

“Thank you, Jim. You’re the best brother-in-law I could have ever hoped for.” Bailey said as she leaned into Jim for a hug and a kiss.

Once they drove off, Blair took Jim’s hand and started towards the SUV to go home for the night.

The entire drive home, they discussed the move to the big house and Blair found himself looking forward to it.

~~~~~

For the next five weeks, Blair and Jim tried to get focused on moving. It wasn’t that easy, since there were so many changes in their lives, they had to take care of them first. Jim went back to work after being off for a week from the injury and now he was busier then ever trying to keep up with his business and helping out at the station with Blair three or four times a week.

Jim hired three new people to take over for a lot of his job, so he would have more time for what he wanted to do. He had his own Private Investigation Service and he had trained with Blair at the range, so he would be able to carry a gun. That was important to him and Blair thought it would be a good idea too.

He settled on something simple for the name, it was Ellison Investigations. Bailey was his assistant, and she had plenty to do while the kids were in preschool. Everything seemed to be working out. The only thing left would be for him to actually move into the house.

Bailey said, “Jim, you’ve been dragging your feet about moving into the house. Is something wrong with you and Blair?”

Jim smiled at his sister-in-law and said, “No, I’ve had so many things to do that I’m exhausted and I can’t seem to catch up.”

“Well, there is nothing going on this weekend, so you’re moving. I’ve set up the moving company to pack you up and everything. There are no more excuses, Jim.”

Jim hugged her and said, “I’ll do it.”

“I know you will. They’re coming tomorrow morning to move you and Blair over there. It’ll be fine, once you get there,” Bailey promised.

Jim had told Bailey all about his senses, so she would be aware of him going into a zone or anything like that. He figured it might help things in the office.

Bailey answered the phone and Jim heard it was Blair.

Jim picked up the phone in his office and said, “Hey.”

“Hey yourself, do you have enough time to come over here and help me with a case?” Blair asked.

“Yeah, we were just closing up shop. I’ll be there in about a half-hour,” Jim said before he hung up.

Jim didn’t have to worry about leaving anyone in the building alone because they had security guards downstairs now and they had alarms everywhere. People were going to be safe that worked for Jim Ellison.

Jim hugged Bailey and wished her well for the weekend.

~~~~~

Jim drove over to the station house and found Blair and Simon waiting on him. Jim smiled when he saw them waiting by the elevator.

“What’s up?” Jim asked.

Simon said, “We have a missing child and we have a suspect in interrogation room 2 and want you to see if he’s telling the truth or not. We could be wasting our time, but he’s a good suspect and if he is the one, we need to know where he put the child.”

Jim said, “Shit, I hate the child cases. Okay, lead me into the room and leave us alone so I can talk to him.”

Simon told him all about the case before they got to the room and then opened the door and let Jim walk in by himself. Once Jim was in the room, they shut the door and Jim sat across from the man. Jim could tell he was very nervous, he smelled nervous, which isn’t a good smell to a Sentinel. But his heart rate was doing triple time so Jim was already a little cautious.

“Mr. Dean, my name is Jim Ellison. I’m a private investigator and I’ve been hired to find Sean Matthews, a missing four year old child. Do you happen to know if you’ve seen him or not?” Jim asked.

The man started to sweat and Jim knew that this might be the man. He could tell. He used his senses and could smell sex on this man. Was it with the child or someone else? All Jim knew was that he smelled semen on him and it was upsetting Jim.

Jim leaned back and said, “I can smell the sex on you. You didn’t have time to shower did you?”

Dean started freaking out. “What do you mean you can smell sex on me? What are you a sicko?”

“No, Dean, I’m not, but I’m afraid you might be. Now I’m going to sit in here and talk to you until you’re exhausted. Then maybe you’ll tell me who you had sex with.”

The sweat was rolling down his face now, and Jim knew he had him. “Where is Sean?”

“I have no idea,” Dean answered.

“I’m going to have them come in and take a swab of your dick, and we’re going to run tests to see if you’ve done anything to Sean Matthews,” Jim warned.

“You can’t do that. It’s against my rights. I have a lawyer coming,” Dean answered.

“It won’t do you much good when I hold you down for the test to be done. And believe me I’ll hold you down just like you might have held someone else down. You know what I mean, Mr. Dean?”

“Why do you always come after me?” Dean asked.

“Because you are a pervert and we need to keep track of what you do. Now I’m going to get the doctor to do the test on you and I’m going to hold you down,” Jim stood up and headed for the door.

“I’ll tell you where he is,” Dean answered.

“I’m listening,” Jim replied.

“I want a deal. Can you make a deal for me?” Dean answered.

“I’ll try,” Jim said, knowing full well he couldn’t do anything about anything.

“He’s at my sister’s house. She’s out of town for the weekend and I just wanted to have some fun,” Dean said.

Simon and Rafe immediately called for a car to go to the house and see if Dean was telling the truth.

Jim asked, “Where did you put him in the house?”

“He’s in the basement. He’s fine, stop worrying,” Dean spat out.

Jim never wanted to hit someone in the face as bad as he wanted to hit this man. But instead he just smiled and said, “Thank you so much for telling us where he is. So you didn’t have time to hurt him yet?”

“I wasn’t going to hurt him anyway. Go and check, he’s fine,” Dean said.

“We’re going to wait right here for the police to check out your story and we’ll see what they say.”

“Whatever,” Dean answered.

Jim got up and began to pace, for the wait. He knew they would call and tell them as soon as they found the child. He just hoped that Dean wasn’t lying.

“So who’d you have sex with, Dean?” Jim asked, suddenly remembering that he smelled semen on this man.

A friend of mine. None of your business,” Dean retorted.

“It might be our business, it depends on what we find at your sister's house,” Jim said.

Simon walked up to the door and opened it and Jim walked out. “So what did you find?”

“There’s no child there. He’s fucking pulling your leg,” Simon barked.

“He’s not lying. He was telling the truth. Did they find anything that belonged to Sean Matthews?” Jim wondered.

“I’ll have them check for that. They were just looking for the child, not his things,” Simon stated.

“Give me a few minutes with him and I’ll see what he says,” Jim said as he opened the door and walked back into the room.

“There was no child there,” Jim said hatefully.

“That’s where we left him,” Dean accidentally said.

“We? Who is we?” Jim barked out.

“I told a friend of mine to stay with him and take care of him if I didn’t come back right away. I knew the damn cops would come looking for me, so I was protecting him.”

“Who is the man?” Jim shouted.

Dean looked frightened for the first time since Jim had been in there.

The stupid man just looked around for a moment and said, “His name is Clive Otter. I met him in jail the last time and we’ve been friends since.”

“And what did Clive Otter do to go to jail?” Jim asked banging his fist on the desk.

“He likes kids too,” Dean hurriedly answered.

“Where does he live?” Jim asked.

“At 1200 North Wilmot Road, number 21. It’s an apartment. He’s got it all set up nice for kids. He’ll take good care of him,” Dean assured Jim.

Jim shoved the table against Dean and said, “He’s a predator just like you, how could Sean be fine? He won’t take good care of him, he’ll hurt him just like you would hurt him,” Jim bellowed.

Blair came and opened the door and said, “Mr. Ellison, you are no longer needed. We’ll take it from here.”

“Wait a minute, cop. He said he could make me a deal,” The idiot said.

“Does he look like one of us? I don’t think so. There won’t be any deals made today. You’re going down for the third time, and won’t they just love you in prison when they hear what you’ve done.” Blair pulled the man up and made sure the cuffs were tight and drug him from the room.

Jim was confused, he knew Blair was very upset and angry, but he didn’t know why. What had happened? Jim wanted to know so he went off in search of Rafe, Brown or Simon Banks.

Jim could hear Dean yelling like crazy that Blair was hurting him, but he tried to shut that out, so he could find out what was going on.

Jim found Rafe and said, “What’s going on?”

Rafe looked stricken when he said, “We found the little boy, but he was dead. Dean’s friend strangled him to keep him quiet. We have him down in booking right now. The parents are waiting, I have to go and tell them the news.”

Jim was devastated. He hadn’t helped at all. In fact, he might have dragged it on long enough for Clive to kill Sean. Jim sat down at Blair’s desk and waited for his lover to come back.

Simon walked into the room and said, “Ellison, you can go home now. We’re going to be here all night long.”

The way Simon spoke to Jim, he knew that they were all angry at him. He had failed. Jim got up and took the elevator down and drove to his office.

Blair came into the bullpen about an hour later and said, “Where is Jim?”

Brown said, “Simon sent him home since he fucked this up so royally.”

“How in the hell did Simon get that? We didn’t know there was anyone else until Jim probed into it. What else did you all want from him?” Blair shouted.

Simon walked into the room and said, “He was of no use to us at all. We found a dead child, when we could have found a live one. Ellison took his time and didn’t do anything special to get the information from Dean. This will be the last case he works on.”

“This will be the last case I work on too. Chances are the child has been dead for ten hours already. It wouldn’t have mattered what Jim found out, he still would have been dead. You all piss me off. You wanted his help. He gave it, he got the information and now you’re pissed off at him? I don’t think so. You’ll have my resignation in the morning. Goodnight,” Blair yelled as he walked to the elevator.

No one said a word to him. Because they all knew that Blair was right.

~~~~~

Blair hurried and drove over to Jim’s office and saw the light on. He walked in the door and said, “I resigned tonight, I have to write up my resignation for tomorrow. Do you have any openings?” Blair asked truthfully.

Jim pulled him into his arms and said, “I didn’t change a thing tonight. Nothing helped. I don’t want to do that anymore. Its one thing to be asked for a parent or something but to have Banks ask me is just too much. He wants me to figure out everything for all of his unsolved crimes. I can’t do it anymore. I also don’t want to be responsible for you leaving your job. Please don’t do that to me.”

“I’ll think about staying, but I don’t know, they really pissed me off big time,” Blair admitted.

“Blair as much as I love you, I don’t want to deal with all of this. Let’s go out for dinner and see if we can just forget about it all.”

“That’s bullshit, Jim. Why wouldn’t you let me work here?” Blair wondered.

“You’re a cop. You’re a damn fine cop. Why would I want you to leave that for being my partner at work?” Jim asked.

“Maybe I’d love to be your partner at work, have you ever considered that?” Blair inquired.

Jim was getting infuriated. “Let’s drop it.”

A frustrated Blair said, “Let’s not and say we did. I want to discuss this. Do you think I wouldn’t be a good partner for you?”

Now Jim looked incensed. “Of course you would be a good partner. I’ve no doubt of that. I don’t want to be the cause of trouble in your life. It could come back and bite us both in the ass, down the line.”

They were standing there arguing when Simon, Rafe and Brown walked in. Simon said, “I just wanted to let you know that you were right, Sandburg. The little boy had been dead for ten hours. As soon as we picked Dean up, Otter killed the little boy. So first of all, I’d like to apologize to Jim, I hope you’ll forgive us for acting the way we did.”

“I totally understand,” Jim answered.

“Well, I fucking don’t. You treated him like shit. You expect him to come in there and work miracles. He’s not a miracle worker, Simon. He’s a man, just like you and me. I’d rather work by his side then by yours right now. I’m pissed off,” Blair shouted.

“You’re right. We expect Jim to work miracles, all because he can hear things we can’t. It’s time to stop. If you never want to come back to the station house, Ellison, I would understand completely,” Simon stated.

Brown and Rafe both said, “Sorry, man.”

“Are you still going to leave the station, Sandburg?” Simon asked.

“No, he’s not. I can’t handle him leaving the job he loves because of me. We just have to have a better understanding the next time. I actually like working with all of you,” Jim confessed.

They all shook Jim’s hand and smiled. But Blair was still pissed off. Simon knew that there might be a chance that Blair would leave and he didn’t want to chance that, so he said, “I’m sorry, Blair. I over-reacted and I blamed Jim when it should have been the monsters I blamed instead. I hope you’ll continue to work with us. You’re a very valuable team member.”

“Okay, stop kissing ass, it doesn’t suit you. If Jim doesn’t want me to be his partner, then I’ll stay.” Blair said.

“I’d love for you to be my partner, but you have a job. You’re good at it. Stay and be happy with that job,” Jim advised.

“So you’ll still work with us now and then?” Simon asked Jim.

“Yes, I will,” Jim replied.

Simon walked to the front door and said, “Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow Sandburg. And once again, Jim, I’m sorry. Have a good night.”

They all walked out the door smiling and Blair found himself almost smiling too.

“What about dinner?” Jim asked.

“Jim, I want to move into your house. I want us to start a life there. Can we move this weekend?” Blair asked.

“What’s that got to do with dinner?” Jim laughed.

“Answer me, man.”

“Bailey got tired of my excuses and hired a moving company for both of our things. So this weekend, we are officially moving to the new house. Our house. Here are your keys for all of the doors.”

“Hot damn, we get to have sex in a new place this weekend. I’m always up for sex in a new place.” Blair said excitedly.

“We’re still going to be on the same bed, just a different room is all,” Jim reminded him.

Blair snickered and said, “It’s still going to be exciting. I love sex with you. No, I love you.”

Jim pulled Blair into his arms and said, “I love you, too.”

“Oh, another first time,” Blair whispered.

“Another?” Jim asked.

“A first time you told me you loved me in the office. This is a good night.”

Jim said, “Now what about dinner?”

“What about Wonder Burger for a change?” Blair asked.

“You hate me to eat there,” Jim replied.

“It’s a special occasion. Let’s go get food and go home so we can have more sex. I need you big guy,” Blair said.

“How could I turn that down?”

~~~~~

Once they got home, they ate dinner and got ready for bed. Jim was primed and ready for good sex. Blair was humming with excitement, which made Jim all the more ready.

Jim was taking over that night, he felt like he needed to mark his territory. He loosened Blair up in record time, slid a condom on and slid into home base. God, he loved fucking Blair.

Blair said, “Don’t make me come, because I want to fuck you as soon as you’re done. You’re not the only one that needs to mark his territory.”

Jim fucked Blair hard and long and Blair was having a wonderful time, not coming. Finally Jim couldn’t hold out any longer and came into Blair’s tight channel.

Blair barely gave Jim any time to recover before he started loosening up Jim’s ass. Blair was anxious to get in there and have his way with his man. Once Jim was stretched; Blair slipped a condom on and entered just as quickly as Jim had entered Blair.

Blair began to pound into Jim and was chanting something about how good Jim’s ass felt. Jim didn’t care what Blair said, as long as he fucked him and Blair was fucking him senseless. Jim was almost there. He was going to come again. Jim began to meet each of Blair’s thrusts and that was driving Blair crazy. Finally, Blair threw back his head and howled as he shot his come into Jims tight, hot, hole. Jim came at the exact same instant.

Blair just lay on top of Jim breathing very hard and wondering how he ever got so lucky as to be able to fuck one Jim Ellison whenever he wanted to. Blair kissed Jim’s shoulder and whispered, “I love you.”

Jim said, “I love you.”

Blair pulled out as he started to shrink and then went to work on cleaning them both up. Then it was time for power naps for both of them.

Jim slept very hard as he held on to his lover and Blair just smiled and fell asleep too.

~~~~~

The phone rang at about six in the morning and Jim answered, “What?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, Jim, but I got a call from a client for our business and thought you might want to know about it,” Bailey said.

“Bailey you’re off work, how do you know this?” Jim asked.

“I have the calls come to my house first and if I don’t answer they go to your house. Anyhow, we have a teen runaway, but the parents think he isn’t a runaway at all. They think something happened to him. So they’re willing to pay if you start right away,” Bailey explained.

“Do I have time for a shower and breakfast, Missy?” Jim teased.

“I told them you would be by in two hours,” Bailey answered.

“You’re pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?” Jim asked.

“Yes, I am,” she answered.

“Give me their address,” Jim said as he sat up to write everything down. “Thanks, Bailey. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

Jim started to get up and Blair grumbled, “Do you have to leave already?”

“Yeah, Bailey told them I would be there. I’m taking a shower if you’re interested in a quickie.”

Blair jumped out of bed so fast that Jim started to laugh. He rushed down the stairs, into the bathroom and got the water going in the shower.

Nothing beat a morning quickie as far as Jim was concerned. Blair was a sexual addict, which was all right with Jim. Jim got dressed and Blair said, “Want any company?”

“No, I’m going to do this alone. I think the parents would be put off by a cop coming along with me,” Jim explained.

“Okay, I’m going to get ready for work, since I’m not quitting, I guess,” Blair kidded.

Jim kissed him soundly and said, “See you in a few hours. I’ll stop by and tell you about the case if it’s interesting.”

“Have a good day. Good luck with the case,” Blair said kissing him back.

Jim left and Blair felt a pang of loss for a second. He still missed Jim when he wasn’t by his side all the time. Blair wasn’t sure that was such a good thing.

~~~~~

Jim got to Mr. and Mrs. Adams house to see about their son, Cason.

“Hello, Mr. Ellison. I heard that you helped find the people that murdered your family and I figured you would know how it is to be missing family,” Mr. Adams said.

“Could you tell me a little about Cason?” Jim asked as the man directed him into the living room.

“He’s a straight A student and has a lot of hobbies and activities he’s involved in. He’s in band, glee club and drama club. He’s not the type to run away, I can’t believe he left a note and said he was leaving home,” Mrs. Adams said.

“Okay, have you had any arguments before he left?” Jim asked.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Adams looked at each other and said nothing.

“If you want me to work this case, you’re going to have to level with me,” Jim explained.

“He told us that he had a new lover. He’s only 17, and we were a little surprised, especially when we found out if was a guy. We didn’t raise him to be gay and he knows that. So we argued about that for about two hours and he said he would have to live elsewhere if we couldn’t accept him for who he was,” Mrs. Adams said shamefully.

“First of all, I better tell you up front, I’m gay,” Jim said.

Mr. Adams said, “We had heard that, and we thought you might be able to find him quicker since you know that type of lifestyle.”

Jim just looked at them both like they were insane. “When is your son going to be 18?”

“In two weeks. But that doesn’t matter. We want him to live with us so we can protect him from people like…” Mr. Adams started to say.

“People like me? Is that what you wanted to say? I don’t think I’m going to take this case. You won’t accept him, so why bring him home?” Jim asked.

“So we can teach him what’s right and what’s wrong,” Mrs. Adams said.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to get someone else for this case,” Jim stood up to leave.

Mr. Adams said, “We can make your life a living hell if you don’t help us.”

“Are you threatening me? I wouldn’t work for you if you were the last person on the face of the earth. Good day,” Jim said as he started to leave.

“Mrs. Adams said, “He’s with an older man, does that make any difference?”

“It should make a difference since it’s against the law but he’s almost 18, he’s gay and you don’t like it and won’t accept him for who he is, so why would I help you?” Jim wondered.

“You know deep down, that being a homosexual is wrong. You must know that. We’ll pay good money,” Mrs. Adams said.

“I’m out of here,” Jim said as he opened the front door.

“Everyone is going to know about you now. I’m going to spread this and no one will hire you,” Mr. Adams warned.

“Do whatever you want. I’d rather not work then work for someone like the two of you. Goodbye.” Jim walked out the door and slammed it for good measure.

He went to his office and typed up the notes so he’d have them fresh in his mind for later, when he told Blair about it and the phone rang.

“Ellison Investigations, may I help you?”

“Is this Jim Ellison?” A young voice asked.

“Yes, this is Jim Ellison,” Jim answered.

“My name is Cason Adams and I just wanted to thank you for not taking the case.”

“How do you know this already, I just turned them down a little while ago,” Jim replied.

“They’ve already spread a rumor about you being gay and wouldn’t look for their son to help him stay away from the gay lifestyle. It’s going around rather quickly, I’m afraid,” Cason remarked.

“Oh swell. Well good luck in whatever you decide to do,” Jim said.

“I’m staying with friends until I turn 18 and then I’m going to get a job, an apartment and have a life away from them.”

“Good for you, I’m glad you’re doing what you need to do,” Jim said.

“I was wondering if you happened to need anyone in your office for temp help or something like that,” Cason asked.

“Call me when you turn 18 and we’ll find something for you to do at my office. Thank you for calling,” Jim said before he hung up.

He didn’t need this crap. Why did people have to be so fucking hateful? Why couldn’t they just accept their son for who he was? Now they would never see him again.

Bailey came into the office and asked how the client meeting went. She was so angry when Jim told her about it, Jim thought she was going to call the Adams house and tell them off. But Jim told her how he talked to Cason and was going to find a job for him in the Ellison Enterprises office.

“You’re such a good man, Jim. I knew you’d be able to help him,” Bailey said.

“I haven’t done anything yet, other then keep from punching out both of his parents. What idiots. They’re willing to give up their son, just because he’s gay. I just don’t get it at all.”

“And thankfully you never will.”

“Bailey, we might not get any clients for a long while. The Adams family was quite upset and they spread the word that I’m a gay investigator and I don’t know how that will go over.”

“Jim, it might work to our advantage. There are a lot of gay people in town that need help too. Don’t give up already,” Bailey sat down at her desk and turned her computer on.

Jim sat in his office and heard the phone ring about six different times. Finally he walked out and said, “Prank calls?”

“No, jobs for you. I’m getting everything ready for you. There are five new jobs waiting. I told you this might work out,” Bailey said happily.

Jim got a huge smile on his face and a big weight was lifted. He hoped they were good jobs.

Jim looked at the paperwork that Bailey gave him and smiled. She had put everything she could into these files. Jim knew he was going to be busy for the next two weeks. This was a great day.

~~~~~

Blair stopped by Jim’s office at 5:00 to see what was going on and Bailey told him what had happened that morning. Blair was as angry as Bailey was. But then she told Blair about the new jobs coming in and that Jim was out asking questions about them.

“Tell him that I’ll be at home waiting for him. Do you need me to pick the kids up?” Blair asked.

“No, my folks have them. They wanted to keep them for a few days, so I figured what the heck?” Bailey said.

“That’s nice. Jim and I would love to have them sometimes too. You deserve a break now and then, don’t you agree?” Blair asked.

“As soon as you’re settled in the house, they will be over there a lot. They miss being at grampa’s house. It’ll be nice to have family in it once again,” Bailey said, looking somewhat sad.

Blair gave her a hug and said, “I’m going to let you get back to work. I’ll see Jim at home. I’ve got to start packing,” Blair stated.

“See you on Sunday,” Bailey said practically pushing him out the door.

Blair smiled all the way down to the street. They were damn lucky to have Bailey in their lives. Blair loved the kids too. Kevin and Lily were past precious in his eyes and couldn’t wait to have them over more often. Bailey did need a break now and then.

~~~~~

Jim had just finished his last interview with the five new clients and sure enough three of them were gay. Jim found that somewhat odd, but all right at the same time.

The first couple of guys wanted Jim to keep track of their boss and take pictures of him and maybe get some tapes of the man treating them unkindly. So Jim set it up where both men would be wearing a wire all day long and Jim would be taping everything that entire day. He would also be taking pictures in the parking lot where the boss would confront them every night. They had talked to their civil liberties group from ACLU, but they had no proof that their boss was doing any of the things they accused him of. They were getting good reports about the man from everyone in the building, so ACLU couldn’t do a thing to help. That’s where Jim was going to come in. He set them up for Monday morning. He would put wires on them and he would be waiting in the parking lot in his tinted glass SUV, unnoticed by the boss. He would get pictures for ACLU and then the men would have a case. Hopefully it would go as simply as that.

They gave Jim a check for the deposit for all of the equipment and the time and Jim told him he would bill them for the rest. Monday was going to be a very busy day.

Jim found this work rather easy to do. It wasn’t like it was police work or anything. But then again, he might be able to find someone’s lost child some day, something that a cop could do too. Jim had often thought about being a cop, but his life turned out differently and now he was too old to join the force. He would love to work with Blair in Major Crimes.

Sometimes his job seemed unimportant, and then others like today when he told those men what he planned on doing on Monday, they were thrilled with him, this made the difference in his days being boring and exciting. Jim just knew that he’d be able to help with that.

The other four jobs, were easy jobs, of just finding something out for someone that didn’t want to bother doing it themselves. So that was easy money.

On his way back to the office, Cason Adams called and Jim answered, “Hello?”

“Mr. Ellison, this is Cason Adams and I find myself needing a job sooner then I expected. Could you find anything for me?”

“What’s wrong, Cason?” Jim asked.

“The man I was living with decided I wasn’t worth the trouble. My folks hired another investigator and he threatened him. So I have no where to go and no where to work. I need money in order to get an apartment,” Cason explained.

“Are you done with school already?” Jim asked.

“I finished high school about two weeks ago.”

Jim thought a moment and said, “How would you like to take classes at Rainier University?”

“Man, that sounds great, but I can’t even afford an apartment, let alone college. That will have to wait. I figured I could go for night classes at the Community College when I started to work at your place, if I ever did,” Cason said.

“I’ll pay for your college if you work for my company part time. I have a loft that you can rent, dirt cheap, so that would take care of everything, am I right?” Jim asked.

“I don’t have anywhere to go right now. I can’t go home. What should I do?” Cason pleaded.

“Cason, go to the Super 8 on Kolb and 22nd street and there will be a room waiting for you. Then I want to see you in two weeks. You have to be 18 when you start work for me. The room and food will be paid for. So you’re all right for two weeks. Then you’re going to be working and going to school. Understood?” Jim asked.

“Understood. I’m on my way to the Super 8 now. Should I offer to do things at the motel while I’m there for extra money?” Cason wondered.

“Good idea. That would give you spending money. I know the man that owns the place and he’ll be good to you. Take care and we’ll see you in two weeks,” Jim said before he closed his cell.

Jim hurried and called that friend of his that owned the Super 8 and explained to him what was going on. He gave him his credit card number and made the arrangements. His name was Tom Keller. He was in the service with Jim and had once been his lover. Things changed, but they still remained friends.

Keller said, “I’ll have a room ready for him when he gets here and he can eat in the coffee shop three meals a day.”

“Thanks, Keller. You’re a life saver. He’ll be 18 soon and his parents won’t have any say in where he lives or where he works. That’s going to be the big plan to come up with. He wanted to work for you while he’s there. He needs extra money. Do you have any openings?” Jim asked.

“If he’s not reluctant to being a maid, he’s got a job. I had one quit today and I need to fill it as of now,” Keller said.

“I’m sure he’ll work out just fine. I wish you well, Keller. Talk to you soon,” Jim said as he hung up.

~~~~~

Jim drove to the office and wondered if Blair was going to be there. He noticed that his heart beat faster when he thought about Blair. He was definitely a man in love.

There was no one at the office when Jim arrived there except the Security officers. That was it. So Jim turned around and headed straight home.

~~~~~

Blair was home, making dinner when the phone rang. He let it ring, because he still didn’t feel comfortable answering Jim’s house phone. He was going to have to get over that when they shared the new house.

The answering machine picked up and Blair heard, “Jimmy boy, this is Tommy. I want you to know that I took care of everything and it’s all going to be just fine. We’re a good team, just like we used to be in the army, right? Call me and let me know when we can do dinner.”

Blair just stood there in shock. This sounded like someone that had dealt with Jim recently. But yet Blair didn’t know about it. Blair wanted to know about it big time. He started pacing and was still pacing angrily when Jim walked through the front door.

“Hey Chief, how was your day?” Jim asked, not having a clue that world war was about to break out.

“Who the fuck is Tommy? And why would you be having dinner with him?” Blair shouted.

“Tommy called? Didn’t he tell you what we talked about?” Jim asked, wondering why Blair was so pissed off.

“Of course he didn’t tell me. I didn't answer the phone and let it go to the machine. Now who is he and why was he calling here?” Blair was so pissed off that he was red in the face.

Jim just looked at him for a moment and then he smiled. “You’re jealous of Tommy?”

“Of course I am. He acted like you were old friends. If he’s such an old friend, why don’t I know about him?” Blair inquired.

Jim pushed the button and listened to the message. “First of all, start answering the fucking phone before you jump down my throat. If you would have talked to Tommy you would know what was going on. Sit down and I’ll tell you. Believe me, Tommy means nothing to me other then being a good friend from the old days.”

Blair sat down and said, “Okay, explain.”

Jim began by telling him all about Cason’s phone call and Cason having no where to go, so Jim thought of Tommy, because Tommy ran a Super 8 motel. Jim explained that he got a room for Cason for the next two weeks until he turned 18 and his meals were going to be covered too. He told him about Cason going to Rainier University in two weeks and working part time for Ellison Enterprises at Jim’s expense. Jim wanted him to get off on the right foot. So Tommy was calling to let him know that Cason had arrived and was doing well. Cason was going to be working for Tommy at the motel for the next two weeks and that was basically it. He then told Blair, Tommy had a partner and has been with him for about 15 years. When Jim was done ranting he sat down next to Blair and asked, “Anything else you want to know?”

“God, how do you put up with me?” Blair asked.

“Start answering the fucking phone and I mean it. This is your place too. I don’t want any more misunderstandings from here on in.”

“I promise, I will. Now go wash up, I made you a nice dinner. Pepper steak is one of my favorites and I hope you’ll like it too,” Blair said as he started to get up.

Jim pulled him onto his lap and started making out with him.

Blair pushed away and said, “What are you doing?”

“Fuck… I want you, okay?” Jim asked.

“You want me more then dinner?” Blair teased.

“Oh yeah, way more then dinner, I want to show you who is boss,” Jim kidded back.

“Let me turn everything off first, so there isn’t anything burned,” Blair got up and Jim walked up the stairs like a man on a mission.

Blair smiled at that. He couldn’t believe how turned on Jim was from him being jealous. Geeze, he was going to have to do that now and then.

Blair turned everything off and walked up the stairs to find a naked Jim on the bed waiting. Hard and waiting. Blair stripped as quickly as he could and jumped onto the bed.

“Never think I don’t love you, Blair. You’re mine and I’m yours. No one else’s, understood?” Jim growled.

Blair shivered when he heard the growl.

This made Jim smile. There was no more talking. Not one word was said as Jim fucked Blair senseless. They lay in bed afterwards and Blair finally said, “God, you’re good.”

Jim burst out laughing and said, “And you’re good for my ego.”

Blair cuddled up to Jim and told him about his day at work and Jim in turn told Blair about the new cases he was going to have. They just talked and talked and talked. It was nice. Sex and talk.

“Just think, this is our last night in this bedroom,” Blair said.

“Are you all right with the move?” Jim asked.

“Yes, for the tenth time, I’m fine with the move. I just want to get moved in and settled. I promise to start answering the phone. I swear,” Blair said. “Oh I’m off on Monday, do you want me to go with you to the stakeout for the two guys under surveillance?”

“That would be great. I dread long days with nothing to do but watch and wait,” Jim answered.

“It’s a date, then. We’ll do the surveillance together and get the ACLU involved soon,” Blair said.

“Do you actually think he’s going to be dumb enough to do it with them wearing the wires?” Jim asked.

“Why not, he’s done it all along with no problems, so he’ll continue doing it until someone like you stops him,” Blair assured Jim.

“I really want to be able to help them. But I have this fear that it’s going to backfire and something will happen to them and they’ll be fired instead,” Jim admitted his fear.

“Stop worrying man. In fact, I’ll dress up really nicely and walk up to them and say hello. My long hair will get that guy going big time. Then you have a cop as a witness. What do you think of that idea?” Blair inquired.

“Blair, I think you took an evil pill today. That’s a great idea. You can be a long lost gay friend that they meet in the parking lot. It’ll be perfect. Wear those earrings that I bought you,” Jim advised.

“Okay, we’re on. I’m going to sit in the SUV with you until it’s time for them to come out to the parking lot. Then I’ll walk up to them and talk and I’ll do something like hug one of them. I probably should meet them before we do this. Don’t you think, Jim?”

“Yes, I’ll call them in the morning and set up a meet before Monday. They’ll be thrilled that there will be a cop on this. They’ve had no help what-so-ever since this all started. Thank you, Blair.”

“What are the rest of the cases?” Blair asked.

Jim smiled and said, “One is a wife worrying her husband is seeing someone else, the third one is two old people that want to find a grandchild that they didn’t know about and the fourth one is a man asking me to keep an eye on his daughter while he is out of town for a week. He thinks his wife doesn’t do a good enough job. Believe me it pays very well and it’ll take me away for a week at night, but it’s my job. What new cases are you working on now?”

“We’ve got a new murder case, no leads at all. There was nothing there. I would have loved to have you there today, believe me, but I knew you were busy. Maybe you could take a look with me tomorrow instead, you think?” Blair asked.

“We’re moving tomorrow,” Jim reminded Blair.

“Yeah, but we’re not moving until ten. I could take you to the site early in the morning and be back by ten. What do you say about that?” Blair said hopefully.

“Then I suggest we get to sleep and we’ll get up at four tomorrow morning and go look at your site,” Jim said smiling.

“Thank you, man. You’re the best. I’m hoping you just might be able to point me in the right direction for some clues. I don’t expect you to work miracles, I’d just love some help with them,” Blair admitted.

“Are we going to eat tonight?” Jim asked almost laughing.

“Oh yeah, I forgot. Let’s go down and eat.”

The two men went down the stairs totally naked, not caring about a thing in the world and ate the delicious dinner that Blair had prepared.

They cleaned up the kitchen afterwards and climbed the stairs again to go to sleep. Blair had to set the alarm clock, because he just knew they wouldn’t be getting up on their own.

“Goodnight, Jim.”

“Goodnight, John Boy,” Jim teased as he pulled his lover into his arms.

~~~~~

When the alarm rang, both men got up quickly, showered and dressed for the day. They knew there was no time to waste. They had to see the site and move. It was going to be a very busy day.

Once they got to the house where the murder had taken place, Blair showed his credentials and got him and Jim into the room. There was still a cop on duty. Both of them wore gloves as they knew they would need to.

Jim glanced all over the room, taking it all in. He asked many questions and Blair wrote down anything that seemed out of the ordinary. Jim asked about the safe behind the painting and Blair was surprised.

“What safe? We found the safe already. It was empty. We figured they took everything they wanted.” Blair asked. “We tore this room apart.”

“It’s behind this painting. I can see the difference in the way the painting hangs next to the other one. It’s over the bed, not a usual spot for a safe to be. Who would have looked for a second safe?” Jim said.

Blair pulled on the painting and sure enough it came away from the wall, showing a safe. “Can you open it with your hearing?”

“I think so,” Jim said. He listened as he turned the dial and he heard it click at a certain point, and moved it the other way. Before long, it was open.

Blair grabbed the things out of the safe and said, “Holy shit… Blackmail material. Now we have something to go on. Thanks, Jim. Now I have to run this over to the station house and get it signed in. This is important. Whoever killed him was probably looking for this and was interrupted. There are three different people in these photos, so we have somewhere to start. Rafe and Brown are going to be thrilled. Let’s go now.” Blair said.

“Sure, I didn’t see anything you guys missed except for that. And that’s understandable because there was the other safe over there. Like I said, who would have thought there would be two safes in a room? Let’s get out of here before someone comes looking for something,” Jim suggested.

They took everything to the station and Blair got it all signed in. Then he called Brown and told him about the pictures from the safe.

“I have to move today. Could you and Rafe come in and start working on these photos?” Blair asked.

Brown said, “Sure, I’ll get Rafe and we’ll start work on it right away.”

“I have a few ideas, but they’re going to have to wait until tomorrow. I’ll come in early Sunday morning and go over everything with you, all right?” Blair asked.

“That’s fine. I’ll tell Rafe that we’ll have help tomorrow and irritate him,” Brown teased.

“Don’t drive him nuts. You have to work with him all day long. Everything is in lockup and you’ll be able to reach me if you need to. I’m just moving.”

“Good luck with the move,” Brown said as he hung up.

“Okay, we’ve got enough time to get home and start figuring out what we want to pack, right?” Blair asked.

“Blair, we’re taking everything,” Jim stated.

“Jim, we’ll keep your dad's bed and stuff like that right?” Blair asked.

“No, I want his bed out and my bed in. The rest can stay, but not the bed. I don’t want to sleep in the same bed as my dad did,” Jim said softly.

Blair noticed that Jim almost seemed freaked out by it. “Jim, are you okay moving in to his house?”

“Yes, but I want our bed up there. He has some really nice furniture, so we’ll want to keep all of that. God we’re going to be busy today aren’t we?” Jim wondered.

“Yes, we sure are, but at least we’re doing it together and we’ll have time to get it just right,” Blair said.

~~~~~

The movers came at ten o’clock on the dot and got started packing and labeling. Jim and Blair were more or less in the way. These guys knew what they were doing.

Jim leaned in to Blair and whispered, “I want to be a mover when I grow up.”

Blair started laughing and said, “I’ll let you move me later.”

Jim wiggled his eyebrows and then smiled.

Bruce came up to Jim and said, “We have to stop one other place, am I right?”

“Yes, we’re going to his apartment and getting his things,” Jim said.

“Okay,” Bruce said and walked away.

“I don’t think he likes gay guys, what do you think,” Blair said.

“Who cares?” Jim asked.

“You’re right, who does?”

Both men started cleaning up each room as they emptied it. Before long they were ready to go to Blair’s apartment. Jim had only been there once. It was nice enough, but just not the loft. Now their new place wasn’t the loft either. Jim sighed and went to get ready to go.

Jim and Blair followed the movers over to Blair’s house and got Blair’s things all packed up and ready to go. Just like at Jim’s house, they got things cleaned up as the movers emptied each room. Before long, it looked like it was ready to move into.

Jim and Blair each had their own vehicle again and followed the movers over to their new house. Jim had no idea where they would put most of the things they had, but if nothing else, the basement would look super good.

When the movers started moving everything in, Blair told them where everything was going to go. Jim just let him take charge. Jim was actually glad about it. He didn’t want to be in charge of this.

Two hours later, the movers collected the check and left. Jim looked at Blair and said, “Welcome home.”

“Welcome home yourself,” Blair replied with a smile. “I hope you didn’t mind me taking over today. You seemed a little overwhelmed and I didn’t want you freaking out.”

“Thank you, I was overwhelmed and I like where you put everything. It says it’s ours now. Not my dad’s at all,” Jim answered.

“It was really nice that you gave the movers all of the furniture that you didn’t want that belonged to your dad,” Blair said.

“I didn’t want certain things around to remind me of him. They didn’t mean anything to him or me,” Jim explained.

“Let’s get this unpacking done so I can go to work and figure out who killed that guy,” Blair said.

“I can do the unpacking if you want to go in right now. I really don’t mind at all,” Jim offered.

“That would be great, Jim. I have so much to do and I have a few ideas for the murder. I’ll come home as soon as I can,” Blair assured Jim.

“No rush, I’ll be here. I might call Bailey and see if she wants to help. She doesn’t have the kids today, so she’s probably bored out of her mind,” Jim said almost laughing.

“Okay, I’m out of here, babe,” Blair said before he pulled Jim down for a much needed kiss.

“Be safe and drive carefully,” Jim replied.

Once Blair left, Jim called Bailey. She agreed to help and Jim was just waiting for her to show up.

~~~~~

Blair got to the station and Rafe and Brown were both running the pictures through the data base. Nothing was showing up thus far, making them irritable and hard to work with.

“Blair took a picture of the one woman in the group of pictures and said, “You know who she looks like?”

“Some old girlfriend?” Brown teased.

“No, I think she looks like Commissioner Michael’s daughter. Don’t you think they look a lot alike?” Blair asked.

Rafe looked at the picture again and said, “It does look like her.”

“Now we need to know everything about the Commissioner’s family. This might get sticky,” Blair said.

“Not if it’s not her,” Rafe said hoping that they wouldn’t find a lead with the Commissioner’s daughter.

Rafe and Brown decided they would show her the picture and ask her where she was that night. Blair let them as he still worked on trying to find out who the other people were.

~~~~~

Bailey was helping Jim unpack and getting everything in place. The house was looking great, thanks to her.

“Jim, do you think that Steven loved me and the kids?”

“Bailey, what a horrible question. He adored all three of you,” Jim answered.

“Then why did he work so much?”

“For the same reason I did. We thought that was our job, to work all the time. We wanted to please our dad. I’m so sorry that he was there that night.”

“It’s all right, Jim. I just wondered if he ever said anything to you about us,” Bailey said.

“He told me that he wanted to talk to you about having another baby, because he was so wild about the two you already had. He once said that he loved you more then anyone in the world.”

“Oh my god, he said that?” Bailey cried out.

Jim hugged her and said, “Yes, he said that.”

“Some day I hope to meet someone that can be a father to the children, but in the mean time, I expect you and Blair to be here for everything they do at school or church,” Bailey stated.

“We would be thrilled. We adore the kids too so it’s not a job to us,” Jim replied.

Bailey totally changed the subject suddenly and said, “The house is starting to look like yours and Blair’s house now. I like it very much.”

“Thank you for helping me, Bailey.”

“You’re welcome.”

~~~~~

When Rafe and Brown came back they looked relieved. “It wasn’t her, Sandburg.” Rafe said.

“Thank god for that,” Blair answered.

“But her dad was there and was pissed off that we were asking questions about her,” Brown said.

“We just need to do some old fashioned police work and find out who these people are,” Blair said.

“Let’s make copies of the faces of these people, since we can’t show people these pictures. Then we can hit the family of the deceased and friends of his. How does that sound?” Rafe asked.

“Like a busy day,” Blair said smiling. He really enjoyed working with the two detectives and he was grateful that they accepted him as he was.

~~~~~

When Blair got home that night Jim had dinner made and all the boxes emptied. The house looked like it belonged to them now.

Blair slipped his arms around Jim’s waist and asked, “What smells so good?”

“Cajun Gumbo, I hope you like that,” Jim answered.

“I’ve never had Cajun Gumbo, so this will be a first,” Blair answered happily.

“The rice is ready, are you?” Jim asked.

“I’m starving. Ready or not, here I come,” Blair teased.

Jim put all of their food on the table and they set down to eat. The two men ate like they hadn’t seen food in a week. Everything turned out well and Jim was very happy with the compliments that Blair gave him for cooking. This was their official first meal at the new house.

“Jim, I love the house,” Blair said.

“So do I. I think that Bailey and I got everything put in the right places. You have to see your office. It’s great. It’s our office, there are two desks with two computers and it looks great.

“Take me for a tour of our new home,” Blair ordered.

Jim took him through the house and showed him all of the rooms upstairs. There were five bedrooms, so they had plenty of room for company. Then downstairs, they had the living room, den, office, formal dining room and the gorgeous kitchen.

Jim smiled over at his lover and said, “Do you feel like you’re watching HGTV?”

“As a matter of fact, I was just thinking that. What are you some kind of mind reader?” Blair laughed. “Jim, we haven’t discussed my mother, but I would like to invite her for a visit so she can meet you. We have plenty of spare rooms, right?”

“I would love to meet your mom. Call her tonight and tell her you’re sending a ticket to her and then warn her about us. I don’t want her to be shocked and get angry with either of us,” Jim said.

“Nah, she’s very open Jim. I will call her tonight and tell her she has to come and meet my husband,” Blair teased.

Blair told Jim all about his mom and Jim decided that he might just like her after all.

~~~~~

The boys knew that things were going to change when they moved. Some for the better and some would be bittersweet. They were both ready to go. They both knew that their jobs were good ones and that they enjoyed them, so they knew that would always be a good thing too.

They were going to see to it that Bailey was with them for the rest of their lives and Lily and Kevin were going to grow up with Uncle Blair and Uncle Jim loving them to death.

They knew they would have to continue to try and get Rose to come over, but this would be a hard sell.

Jim knew that Blair’s mom, Naomi might not like him, but he was willing to chance it.

Helping Cason Adams was also something they both felt good about. He needed help and he sure wasn’t going to get it from his parents. Jim and Blair knew they couldn’t have any children, so they figured they could help a worthy child now and then get through college.

Life was very good, filled with much more good then bad. Jim was very happy that he had met Blair and Blair had basically been his conscience during the kidnapping of the idiots. Blair had made the entire time seem not as bad as it was. Jim seldom thought about the men or about Carolyn. It was best this way.

Jim was thrilled with Blair and Blair was thrilled with Jim.

Who would have guessed that they would have met and fell in love. Perhaps there really was karma, kismet and fate after all.

They believed.

That’s all that mattered.

The end


End file.
